The Vanishing History

Part of me wants to welcome Ron Unz to the Conspiracy Community:

"But when the number of such very reputable yet contrary voices becomes sufficiently large and the claims they make seem generally consistent with each other, we can no longer casually dismiss their critiques. Their committed stance on these controversial matters had proved fatal to their continued public standing, and although they must have recognized these likely consequences, they nonetheless followed that path, even going to the trouble of writing lengthy books presenting their views, and seeking out some publisher somewhere who was willing to release these.

John T. Flynn, Harry Elmer Barnes, Charles Beard, William Henry Chamberlin, Russell Grenfell, Sisley Huddleston, and numerous other scholars and journalists of the highest caliber and reputation all told a rather consistent story of the Second World War but one at total variance with that of today’s established narrative, and they did so at the cost of destroying their careers. A decade or two later, renowned historian A.J.P. Taylor reaffirmed this same basic narrative, and was purged from Oxford as a consequence. I find it very difficult to explain the behavior of all these individuals unless they were presenting a truthful account.

If a ruling political establishment and its media organs offer lavish rewards of funding, promotion, and public acclaim to those who endorse its party-line propaganda while casting into outer darkness those who dissent, the pronouncements of the former should be viewed with considerable suspicion. Barnes popularized the phrase “court historians” to describe these disingenuous and opportunistic individuals who follow the prevailing political winds, and our present-day media outlets are certainly replete with such types."

To have someone with Ron Unz's platform putting this information out there is great.  The libertarians have been doing this for years, particularly Gary North.  We've known all along that these people had their careers destroyed for telling the truth.  

The Narrative must be maintained.  What the Narrative is is what you learn in school.  It's wrong, and all the key parts have been changed.  The brave men listed above had principles.  They were willing to lose everything to go down in history as truth tellers.  The Keepers of the Narrative made them pay.

Newsletter #11 – The Old Ways are Still Here – Reflections from Parent Night

Last night was ‘Meet and Greet’, where parents come in and follow their progeny’s schedule and not only meet the teachers, but learn about each class.

Because I enjoy technology, I’m prepared to show parents how I use eSchool, Schoology, and plan to use Office 365. On the smartboard I have access to all the programs, and can show parents all the cool things the technology can do to help me make up an interesting, fun, AND content rich class.

It’s a far cry from when I would come in and write all the notes, as well as the Aim and Do Now on the chalkboard. I used to be covered in chalk dust by 8:45AM. To watch video I had to wheel in the cart and hope that the DVD player worked. In the late 1990’s I still used a VCR (young people reading this ask your mom).

Interestingly, I never get too deep into showing the technology to the parents. They like it, but they aren’t excited by it. You know what always gets them engaged?

Talking about how the get their children to obtain the discipline and literacy that will lead to success.

In other words, we talk about instilling the ethos of hard work and discipline among the youth.

The parents aren’t interested in any of the latest theories, nor are they interested in all the neat things the technology wizards have cooked up for us. They are interested in Old School values, as they know that they are the real keys to success.

If you could have been there on Parent Night (and some reading this were there), you would have thought it was 1919, not 2019.

What’s even more incredible is that ‘hard work and discipline’ costs $0.00. There are no educational consultants, school bureaucrats, or trendy opinion makers who preach ‘hard work’. None of the outside agencies or consultants brought in have ever spoken about getting students to work hard and accept accountability. The disconnect between the School Industrial Complex and the parents of today is impossibly large. Every parent I spoke with talked about work, concentration, and literacy. All of them want me to give their child morehomework.

When I tell my students that last part they pitch a fit.

Tom Sowell wrote an essaycalled “The Education of Minority Children”. In it there is a quote I always place in the front of the room. When he analyzed successful schools in poor (mostly minority) districts, people often asked him: what was the secret? How did those schools do it? His answer: “The secret is that there are no secrets, unless work is a secret. Work seems to be the only four letter word that cannot be used in public today”.

You can only imagine the names Sowell has been called for writing things like that. I’ve found that the old ways, what we used to call values, are still coveted by parents.

They want success for children, and they know what it takes to get it. Oddly, often those who get paid good money to engender success among young people, don’t.

Impostors in the Temple

https://www.c-span.org/video/?31211-1/impostors-temple

"Impostors in the Temple"

"Mr. Anderson, author of the book Impostors in the Temple: American Intellectuals Are Destroying Our Universities and Cheating Our Students of Their Future published by Simon and Schuster, criticized the intellectual elite of American colleges and universities for failing the nation’s students in higher education through poor teaching and failing to teach values. He discussed his work at the Hoover Institution at Stanford University and the current status of intellectual thought at colleges and universities in the U.S."

Amazing to think that this is from 1992. I remember people like Mr. Anderson. They were called all sorts of names in the press, dismissed as curmudgeons and losers who were 'out of touch', and 'not with it'.

Well, perhaps they deserved a hearing. It's almost 30 years later. It's not too late ... is it?

The Culture of Making You Always Afraid

This cover is from ... 1989.  I know you thought it was from last week, but no, it's from before I graduated High School.  And I'm old.  

Are you getting the drift yet?  The people who rule over us want us to be afraid.  They want us in a state of despair so that we will always be putting ourselves in check.  We will never be living our best lives, or starting things that will make our lives wonderful.  

Does that sound conspiratorial to you?  Does that bother you?  Perhaps you should look more closely at yourself.  The Time magazine cover is from 1989.  I didn't create it, and I'm not the one constantly keeping you on edge by creating a fake crisis.

An Early Prediction

I thought I would put this up on the blog.  I woke up this morning and it was 48 degrees outside here in the great county of the Bronx, NY.

Perhaps the good people at the Washington Post weren't fear mongering.  I accuse them of that a lot.  Perhaps they were right, just a little early in their prediction.

Newsletter #10 – A Young Mind is a Terrible Thing to Waste

I have two classes with 12th graders. They are both Public Speaking classes, where we focus on persuasion, presentation, logic and rhetoric. All the tools that people have used to not only to get you to change your mind, but also to get you to buy stuff you don’t need. I begin the year by having students watch short speeches, presentations, interviews, and debates. I intentionally show them presenters who hold unorthodox and / or unpopular opinions. I routinely prepare to get an earful from angry teenagers. You know what? It never happens. The young adults in class actually like it. They hear all the same ‘Officially Approved Opinions’ all the time. For them, hearing an original or unpopular point is like a breath of fresh air. Here’s the difference between teenagers and most adults. The teenagers don’t get overly emotional about it. They listen, process, then state their thoughts and feelings. The adults, however, with whom I’ve shared unpopular opinions with usually call me a conspiracy theorist, or they get emotional (usually angry) about having such opinions and thoughts. When introduced to something ‘out of the box’, adults go crazy, and the teens don’t. You’d think it would be the other way around. I find this fascinating. I don’t know why older people are so doctrinaire about these things. The 12thgraders I saw today were open and discursive about a topic that would get you ANGRY. (You don’t want to know what I showed them). The important thing to stress with our young adults is to hold onto that trait. To be able to consider things you don’t like, or be able to consider opinions you don’t hold is a fading skill. We will be doing this kind of thing all year period 3 and period 7. I’ll keep you posted as to how it goes, and all the off-limits ground we cover. Sincerely, Douglas Marolla Room 227 – MVHS English https://thefreelanceteacher.teachable.com/ Share this link with your friends, and have them join the group: https://mailchi.mp/0e862acd6c02/talkingoutofschool

G. E. D. Report #33 - Why the Bad School Stays Bad

Ever wonder why the bad area schools stay bad? How often does a bad neighborhood school 'reform' itself and become a 'good' school where the Yuppies and the Progressives want to send their children? The answer to the previous question is zero.

Here I tell you the dirty secret as to why the bad school never improves. You can throw all the money in the world at the place, it will still suck. It isn't about money. The Kansas City Experiment showed us that. The school ethos, and the nonsense that the Education programs peddle are the real culprits. It's a vicious cycle that will never stop, because failure attracts money. Who loses in all of this? The students of course. Is it by design? It must be, as the proof is right there out in the open and almost nobody does anything to stop it.


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Damage Control: fix what's broken here:


https://thefreelanceteacher.teachable.com/p/ace-the-act-reading-comprehension-exam

Newsletter #9 – The First Week of 2019-2020 School Year: A Report From the Inside

It’s not all bad. Teachers are notorious for not only talking about how many years they’ve been teaching, but also complaining about their jobs.  Sometimes they have a good reason for complaining.  This newsletter isn’t about that, because I’ve found that the two most destructive tendencies for people working with young people are:

1.     Despair

2.     Cynicism.

Giving in to either of these two things is the kiss of death.  

So far this week:

One of the difficult things I have to fix is the fact that young people today haven’t been taught geography.  None of the students in one of my classes, when shown a satellite image of Africa, could name the Sahara Desert.

Someone dropped the ball during the schooling process, apparently.

A positive aspect is that teachers seem more able to use the technology (smart boards and the like) to make classes more energetic and fun.  In the past, we had administrators who had taught mind numbingly dull classes lecturing and hectoring us to be more “exciting”.  

Mind you, we on staff had remembered these admins as teachers, and remembered the students running out of their classrooms like they were shot out of a cannon because they were so happy to leave.

Now, perhaps because the staff has gotten younger, the audio / visual aspect of classes has ramped up and things look and sound better.

Personally, I use my smartboard all the time, and it makes class more palatable.  One of the few things I’m good at is balancing the duller aspects of English (grammar comes to mind), along with the fun stuff like The Odyssey, Spartacus and The Cask of Amontillado.

Overall, things are going reasonably well, all things considered.  The school system has been watered down, our students have gotten a raw deal via Common Core, and it’s up to us to fix it.  There are serious problems with the Public-School System and the students it has churned out.  I will go into that another week.  For now, I’d like to stay positive and work on fixing what’s broken.

That’s what I’m trying to do here.

Thank you.

Douglas Marolla– English, MVHS, Room 227 

https://thefreelanceteacher.teachable.com/

https://mailchi.mp/0e862acd6c02/talkingoutofschool

G. E. D. Report #32 - Report From the 1st Week of Schule

Naturally there are the stories that are beyond belief. It's not all bad however. The usual suspects are up to their usual tricks. Academically students have been let down more than ever. The current 9th graders were born in 2005, so we are now seeing the first completely youtube smartphone generation come through. It's a mixed bag. I talk about both the good and the bad. 

Here's where you can buy your Intellectual Defense Shield - cheap! 

https://thefreelanceteacher.teachable.com

Steve Jobs Understood

Steve Jobs said this back in 1995.  I find it fascinating that as the internet and technology age dawned, he was able to recognize that one of the Old Truths still applied.  An energetic, interesting, and dedicated instructor was the key.  And a person was better at inspiration than a machine.  

Coming from a technology titan this is even more noteworthy.

Literacy Boot Camp - Read, Write, and Speak Better!

The competitive nature of not only school, but also the required exams, can be daunting.  Here we build up and augment your literacy so that no matter the topic, the language itself will not be confusing to you.  At minimum, you'll have a better chance at success, if not totally dominating the assignment.

Syracuse Universtiy - SUPA Program

Now into my 4th year as an adjunct professor at Syracuse University.  The SUPA program is a great way to get college credit as a High School student.  Time to get started!

Newsletter #8 – I Don’t Know How to Write This

It’s not that I have writer’s block.  We have a full schedule tomorrow at the HS so I have plenty of material.  Watching a modern public school get ‘ready’ for the year is a darkly fascinating exercise.  It’s interesting and I’ll tell you more about it soon.

But I can’t write about that now.  It wouldn’t be right.

I say that because I worked with a wonderful family for the past few days that has been touched by tragedy. I can’t write about high school tomfoolery when my mind is preoccupied with something with infinitely more gravitas.

The story is this: I was called to be a homebound tutor.  I do a fair amount of this kind of thing.  When a student is suspended, or sick, or unable for any reason to go to school, a homebound tutor is called for each subject.  In this case, the young man I worked with was ill.

Despite the severity of the illness, I saw a family that refused to collapse under the weight of the matter.  While going through a tough time, this family’s dedication, spirituality, patience, introspection and willingness to think for itself was on display.  When things are difficult, you find out not only who your friends are, but who out there will actually help.  It’s difficult putting into words how I was able to see what is truly important in life by being a bit player in this family’s trying time.  

My mother is always telling me that whatever I do for children will eventually be worth it. Undoubtedly in this case she is right. The small role I played in helping not only this young man who is struggling, but his family, is something I will remember forever. 

When they come out of this struggle and vanquish the darkness it will be a testament to the Real Things that matter.

People helping other people. It’s what I’m trying to do here. After my experience over the past few days, it seems more important than ever before.

Let’s help each other out. 

Thank you.

Douglas Marolla– English, MVHS, Room 227 

https://thefreelanceteacher.teachable.com/

https://mailchi.mp/0e862acd6c02/talkingoutofschool