NANCY BAILEY: A Reply to an 8th Grader: 11 Reasons Related to Schools Why Citizens Argue

A Reply to an 8th Grader: 11 Reasons Related to Schools Why Citizens Argue

A Reply to an 8th Grader: 11 Reasons Related to Schools Why Citizens Argue

During the Vice Presidential debate, an 8th grader asked why American citizens can’t get along. She said all she sees is arguing between Democrats and Republicans, citizens fighting citizens and two candidates trying to tear each other down. She asked if they can’t get along, how do we [children] get along?

I taught eighth-graders and love the inquisitiveness of that age group. I appreciated her question. Elections always involve debates and disagreements, but our current situation is different. It has to do with President Trump.

Here’s why adults are at odds with each other more than usual at this important time in history.

1. Bullying

President Trump exhibits bullying behavior, even though his wife, the first lady, has an anti-bullying program. I haven’t always agreed with Presidents we have had in both parties, but I can’t recall any who bullied. President Trump displayed bullying debating V.P. Joe Biden. Biden showed some bullying too, but it seemed to be more out of frustration.

Schools aren’t supposed to condone bullying. President Trump’s bullying sets a terrible example for young people. It brings out the worst in everyone. Bullying is wrong no matter who does it. That citizens would condone electing a President who bullies is shocking.

2. Mocking Those With Disabilities

Donald Trump mocked a disabled person before the 2016 election. The person he CONTINUE READING: A Reply to an 8th Grader: 11 Reasons Related to Schools Why Citizens Argue

Bully Politics, Eugenics, and the Last Days of American Pretense – radical eyes for equity

Bully Politics, Eugenics, and the Last Days of American Pretense – radical eyes for equity

Bully Politics, Eugenics, and the Last Days of American Pretense

If the American character included the ability to admit that the country’s founding was deeply flawed but aspirational—life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness as goals we are still trying to achieve for all, not just some—we would not have to admit in 2020 that much of what America believes is simply lies.

Instead, the American character is often trapped in James Baldwin‘s “rigid refusal to look at ourselves,” now disturbingly embodied by the Trump/Pence administration.

Of the many lies at the founding of the U.S. that continue to poison our aspirations for individual liberty and robust democracy, possibly the most disturbing and immediately damning is that people fled England in pursuit of religious liberty.

For some frustrating reason, throughout my 18 years of teaching high school English, students were bombarded by American literature focusing on the Puritans, specifically reading/viewing both Nathaniel Hawthorne’s The Scarlet Letter and Arthur Miller’s The Crucible.

Students tended to recognize after these works that those first Puritans were CONTINUE READING: Bully Politics, Eugenics, and the Last Days of American Pretense – radical eyes for equity

Bully – radical eyes for equity

Bully – radical eyes for equity

Bully

TV shows and movies throughout the 1970s and 1980s, if my memory serves me well, tended to fall back on a predictable and likely lazy portrayal of bullies; beneath their abusive and violent exteriors hid a deeply insecure but ultimately redeemable human.

In the real world, however, the United States has elected a bully and conman president. The first presidential debate of 2020, in fact, put that harsh truth on display as well as offering ironic proof of the power of white male privilege.

Donald Trump and Joe Biden demonstrated the extremely low bar for white men with wealth and power. As I watched the circus between the conman clown and cartoonish career politician, I thought about “no excuses” charter schools where mostly Black and brown students are compelled to make eye contact, walk in straight lines, and conform to the most rigid rules of civility and behavior.

The expectations for the weakest among us in the U.S. are infinitely higher than for the most powerful—as demonstrated by Trump’s bullying and Biden’s doddering.

Let me be clear, my concern about the Trump/Biden debate is not a both-sides complaint. While Biden is a deeply flawed candidate and person, Trump is in a CONTINUE READING: Bully – radical eyes for equity