18. Special Edition Episode--Our Reaction to the 2024 Election

The episode is a candid, unscripted reaction to the 2024 election results, featuring Trina and Amanda. They strive to maintain an apolitical focus despite having strong political opinions. The podcast underscores the importance of working across political lines to address the issues in K-12 education, and the role teachers play in fostering critical thinking in students. Trina shares her belief that the failures in K-12 education are contributing to the erosion of democracy and emphasizes the need for teachers' voices in educational policy.

Amanda adds that teachers have historically managed to facilitate constructive conversations without political bias, and they discuss the broader implications of the election, including threats to the Department of Education and the impact on marginalized student populations. They argue for campaign finance reform and more civics education to combat societal issues such as illiteracy and political ignorance.

The discussion includes references to a "This American Life" episode about political and income inequality, and both hosts call for more teacher involvement in governance. They stress the importance of unity and love across political divisions and invite listeners to join and contribute to the ongoing conversation about improving K-12 education and protecting democracy.

Link to the "This American Life" episode referenced: "It's My Party and I'll Try if I Want To."

00:00 Introduction and Purpose of the Episode
00:41 The Role of Politics in Education
02:14 Election Results and Teacher Reactions
06:38 The Importance of Apolitical Teaching
12:51 The Importance of Civics Education
15:51 Addressing Literacy and Income Inequality
21:53 The Need for Teacher Involvement in Policy
35:36 Conclusion and Call to Action

www.teachershortagecrisis.com
Petition to Save K-12 Schooling and our Precious Democracy!

Transcript

Intro:
 The episode you're about to hear is a short, candid, unscripted,  didn't even make an outline for this episode, reaction  to the 2024 election. This is just Amanda and I talking, and I tried very, very hard to keep us grounded in an apolitical discussion.  Do I have my own politics? Oh yeah, yeah. I absolutely have my own politics.

Then, uh, you know, and in many settings with friends.  Uh, loved ones. I talk about that. I vent. I find solidarity. I am very political, to be sure, but not here, okay? Not in this podcast, not in these discussions, because although I'm very much in my feelings and thoughts and beliefs about my politics, I can see that.

Zealous allegiance to a side is a big problem for us right now. And the problems in K 12 education, which is really what this podcast is about, right?  The problems in K 12 education require us  to work with each other and go across the aisle, so to speak, and. Find solutions that transcend our political dogmas and this episode you're about to hear is very much from the perspective of a teacher And we try to keep it about that But when I started this podcast Well over a year ago now, I mean gosh Amanda and I started talking about this two years ago  I knew and understood that the problems in k 12 education, which were contributing to the teacher shortage, right?

I knew that they were eroding the very fabric of our democracy in incredibly insidious ways, and that's why I've always asserted that in, you know, in the intro song and in my conversations with friends and family about what's on the line here. Amanda and I, when we started this, and now Jess, who came on, the three of us are very clear about the fact that if we don't fix what's wrong with K 12 education, our abilities to effectively self govern hang in the balance.

But when it came to these election results, all three of us really struggled, struggled to figure out how we were going to even talk about it at all on this podcast.  But, you know, Amanda makes the point that that is the job of teachers. In K 12 across the country already, and we have gotten very, very good at having constructive conversations about  what's going on in the world without inserting our political dogma.

I mean, we're probably the best at it because we have this very precious responsibility to give our kids the ability to think critically and clearly But freely without the insertion of our dogma into their thinking and, you know, she talks very eloquently about how hard we try to avoid  what, you know, we've been accused of, which is indoctrination here  as a history teacher. 

As someone who has taught year after year after year how civilizations rise, thrive, and fall,  from my perspective,  it's very apolitical to say that we have taken steps away from democracy. And that's how history will record this moment. I  am qualified to tell you that's what history teachers are going to be saying about this moment in history.

Great. In 30 40 50 years time. It's objective. It's apolitical. That's where we're at  So I do the best I can okay, and You may not like it and like we say in the show, please push back But what I will say is I do mention That we are in an oligarchal state of affairs right now as a civics teacher I sort of pivot and try to do a little bit of civics instruction here  But I mentioned an episode of This American Life, so I want to make sure in this intro that I am being clear about which episode that is, because I love This American Life.

It is called It's My Party and I'll Try If I Want To,  and it chronicles the campaign of a Democratic candidate for Congress known as Jeff Beals. And after I recorded this episode with Amanda last night, because today is the 11th, um, I went back and found that This American Life that I've been thinking about all these years since I first heard it back in 2018.

And I was delighted and not all that surprised to learn that Jeff Beals was a teacher. He was a history teacher. I'm not surprised because I have the utmost faith and love  of my profession.  You know, I get mad at other teachers. I get frustrated with other teachers, but as a group, I think we're pretty darn commendable and I'm not surprised he's a teacher  I've linked to the show notes in buzzsprout for this episode.

You should listen to it because I do probably do too good of a job of criticizing Democrats here. I'm doing that because I'm trying to be.  unbiased and balanced, and maybe I go too far on the other side, but I do think it's essential for us to center a real conversation around the fact that what we have done here is we've created an oligarchy.

It is the demise of our democracy. This is not what our country was founded to create.  This is a tragedy and this is an emergency,  so please understand that I know that going into this episode, that what we have done here is we have ushered in an oligarchical period into the United States government.

Like, a lot of us are really hung up on the fact that Trump has a lot of fascist rhetoric.  Uh, like, that would be the leader of a true dictatorship, right? Someone who takes too much absolute power. And he does. He has a fascist rhetoric. But really what's going on here is an oligarchy, which is actually far more insidious and potentially destructive to the fabric of our democracy. 

But we're having an apolitical conversation about it. And it's not just about the fact that we're all racist, stupid, classist, and misogynistic in this country. No, because women and minorities, uh, voted for him. And we need to be humanizing in our conversations as, about why. Why have we elected him? I mean, really, at the bottom, if we peel back all the layers of the onion, why have we voted for him?

And he won. You know, he did win, and I want to also point out here, nobody's standing in the way of his victory, nobody is trying to say that it was a, you know,  a bogus election, rigged election. All of the arguments he, he inserted into his campaign are untrue. We're not going to stand in the way of this man taking presidency. 

You know,  it is what it is. He's in office. And so we need to really look at why. And what I'm saying here is that the failures of K 12 education that we are chronicling throughout this entire podcast  play a role in this.  I never expected that I would have such strong evidence to provide. To everyone, I, I, when I started this, but here we are,  we are facing an oligarchy and the failures of K 12 education have a very big role in this result. 
Today, Amanda and I are here attempting to record  A legitimately a political reaction to the election  and.  Amanda and Justin, I were on a box thread and Amanda was saying to me, like, there's no way we can be a political and I totally understood what she meant. But then I was thinking about and just was even saying things about this too.

I was thinking about.  The fact that yes, you can. Yes, you can make an apolitical conversation. If you grant me a little grace listeners, if you grant both of us a little grace today,  if you're deep in your feelings in one camp or another, I promise you this, I'm going to say something to offend you today. 

I'm not going to be placating to one side or the other.  Um,  But I do think  the teachers of this nation are deeply wounded right now,  and they deserve a voice. And I'm going to attempt and Amanda and I are going to both attempt to give us that voice. And if you want to push back, the invitation is always there.

Get brave, email us and come on,  that's how you handle your pushback. Just come on, tell us what's up.  So firstly,  I want to start with this one idea and then I'm going to let Amanda respond that like.  This is an anti Trump episode for sure.  And I submit to you listeners that being anti Trump is not being anti Republican  because  there are a lot of very trusted, wise people in the Republican party who do not support this person. 

And Trump is anti democracy, and he has threatened to dismantle the U. S. Department of Education. And that is something, as teachers, we all need to fight against.  I will say this, too, though,  I understand, I mean, yeah, okay, so he's a rapist, he's a criminal, he's incited violence against our  government, he's all of those things.

He's And too many people are ab gotten in their feelings about how dare we elect this man as president. Everybody is so stupid and I say no! The American people aren't stupid! They're wounded. They're very, very wounded right now, and it's because of the failures of the Democratic Party  to crystallize a message that means anything to working class people.

Every time the media boasts how quote unquote strong our economy is, it's another nail in the coffin. Of the working class support of that party. You cannot support a party that doesn't speak about your suffering. The economy is strong for a few, a tinier and tinier slice. The American people are benefiting.

Most people are suffering in silence. And needed a party that spoke to them. So no, you guys, and I don't care if you're offended by this, but no, I do not blame them for voting for Trump.  I understand that vote. I truly do until we get our priorities straight. Until we really address the fact that it is becoming harder and harder and harder to be a working class person in this country,  our factions are just going to get wider and wider and wider.

So I'm going to let you respond because I have more to say about this, but do you think it's possible, Amanda, to have an apolitical conversation  about this? 

Yeah, I think so.  Um,  I love everything you said. And, you know, I have friends and family who I care deeply about who, uh, who are informed and, and want what's best for our country and for their families and their communities, um, on both sides.

And I think that  I think it is hard to talk about this without sharing who I voted for and my political views and like why I voted the way that I did. So I do think this is going to be challenging, but  it's exactly what we have to do as teachers in the classroom. Yeah, I mean, that's I think that's what I really want to talk about is what it's like to be a teacher when they're like there's chaos.

In the world and in our country and things are changing so, so rapidly and it's scary, you know, for kids, um, and I'm talking about like COVID and the pandemic and like just all the things that have that have happened, um, that teachers have had to navigate really by themselves.  with no support or, um,  like guidance on how to support kids, but in an apolitical way.

That is so central. Like that is what you said on the Vox thread too. You're like, Trina,  it is so hard to be a teacher right now in this election cycle. It is so hard to be a teacher. It was so hard to be a teacher during COVID. It was, it's so hard to be a teacher during climate catastrophes because.  Our job is to teach Children how to think, not what to think.

And that is a quote. From Margaret Mead, a flawed individual to be sure. But that idea has to be central in everything that we do. But so many of the adults are messing up so badly right now. And we've gotten so deep into the weeds and some very false ideas. There are forces outside of our country  playing us like puppets.

You know, the Russian government, the Chinese government are stoking the fire of our. Of our biases and our division and are wringing their hands with glee right now at the mess we've made and how we've fallen victim to it all. Do we want them to dismantle our country? Because that's what they're doing.

And there is the real discussion about us divorcing from each other as a nation and going our own way.  Do we want that? Because that's what they're allowing us to do. And this gets back to the fact that we are not a literate society. And I'm not trying to say that if you voted one way or the other, you're illiterate.

Please do not conflate.  But what I am saying is, is it feels like this moment, Amanda, we were just talking about.  The illiteracy problem when we had Janet Nassar come on and talk about  her firsthand knowledge about how illiterate our country is feels a little bit, little bit like it's intentional. That we are intentionally not being educated well, and we are intentionally being sidelined or that nobody cares that we're illiterate because then we're more easily shaped to do the bidding of the elites in this country on both sides of the political spectrum.

Does that sound  

crazy?  No, it doesn't. And we are anti Trump.  And I think that you've talked about the things that Trump has, has done that have, has harmed, um, and dismantling the Department of Education is, it just is absurd, uh, because that would harm  kids in Title I schools, it would harm kids, special ed kids, and just the services that they receive, mostly, because I think that is the main job of the Department of Education.

But also, I think the reason, I didn't think he was gonna win. I mean, I think I was one of those people that was in shock for days.  I just, I just couldn't believe that  he, that that could happen because of the decisions and choices and crimes that he's, you know, made and committed.  And I just, it seems to me, and you've said before, you, you, you found our country's literacy rate  pretty easily before he was elected on some website.

I can't remember what website it was. And then after he was elected, it was hidden. Like, you couldn't find it. Like someone had purposefully  done something with it, those numbers, uh, compared to other countries. And I think, you know, like, I think it was like 60, 50 to 60 percent of our citizens are reading at, uh, 6th grade level or above, right?

Is that correct?  

You're almost, you've almost quite got it. Um,  we've never publicly published. Our literacy rates since I've been looking since about 2015 on the CIA World Factbook, but before Trump, it was very easy to notice that we were not publicizing our rates. I still don't know why if it was because the CIA couldn't find them, which is ludicrous because  They published those rates for all these other countries.

They are an intelligence agency based inside of our country. So it seems ridiculous to me that that they either couldn't find that and didn't say, hey, why don't we have this number and then get that number?  Or I think which is more likely is they did get at that number and said, well, we're not publishing that.

That makes us look like caca because it puts us in the bottom quartile of the entire world. But before Trump, you could see that that number was just empty on the cell on the X and Y axis table after Trump, they changed the way that the information was displayed. So it was really hard to notice that that number is not being published. 

It's really insidious and see that goes to show that by both political parties. We're complicit in the cover up of our illiteracy problem as a nation. Like, it's so devastating and so embarrassing, you don't, you can't, you don't have the courage to even broach it. And it requires the grassroots organizing of people like us, and more notably Dirk Tillotson and Dr.

Cream Weaver  and LeVar Burton to make a movie about it, and it's still not the number one thing we're talking about today.  It's, it's egregious. 

Yeah, it seems intentional.  And that could take money from title one schools by dismantling the Department of Education. It seems intentional. It seems  it's terrifying.

And then what he's talking about when it comes to taking tenure from teachers and requiring a national Patriot patriotic curriculum or something like that. It just seems.  Like we're not living in a democracy anymore. It's so strange because he talks about giving states more rights to do what they want in schools and in their education system.

Yet he wants a national patri, patriotic curriculum. Like what?  

That  these two things don't exist. And like another thing that we have to try.  I know, I know they, they're, they're contradictory.  Um, I mean, they play on the idea of states rights, which I think, and I've said this before in the framework, the solution framework, we maintain micro local control, but I do think.

That the U. S. Department of Education's role in our lives is poorly misunderstood by educators. They do not have the reach that we all think they do. Like Trump's talking about dismantling it. They barely do anything as it is. 

Well, they do those two things. That's one. Two big jobs they do is fund  low income schools and sped, right?

I know. 

Yeah. Because it's a federal law. Exactly. Exactly. And they should be, of course, mandating implementation of other federal laws that intersect with K 12, notably Title IX, right? Well, and what's 

disturbing, though, is those populations. 

I 

agree. Poor kids  and disabled kids. Like, what?  Why would he? I don't know.

It's just  

The rhetoric is so is so charged right now, right, Amanda? And like, what we're saying is, is that without teachers in the governance of our own systems, we're going to keep messing up at a very fundamental level because the people who are running our schools are politicians of either strike.

They're dumb. They don't know what they're talking about. They're not educators and they need to be  sidelined and let all teachers of all political stripes make the decisions. I believe,  I believe in us. Okay. I believe in our ability to come together as educators and do right by 

our kids. 

We  can have the fights and we can disagree and we can work together and we're the only ones that have any business doing this. 

And the fact that we have to sit here asking for it is so insulting and demoralizing  why we need the U. S. Department of Education. I, I know we need it, Amanda, but it needs to be radically reformed because we need to be in it. Educators need to be in the U. S. Department of Education.  We need to be released, like, for a whole year from the classroom to go serve as representatives of our sacred body of K 12 educators. 

And  

yes, it's not to indoctrinate kids, that's not what we want, and that's what Trump thinks that we're doing.  And I went to school the day after the election, and I was very respectful to my students. And whether they were really happy and excited that he won, or really devastated, I said that to them.  I said, you have a right, because we live in America.

We're, we're a free country and we have the right to believe what we want and to vote for who we want.  And I know that some of your parents are  really excited and happy and, you know, I'd like, I spoke to both.  Because I, I respect my kids. I respect their parents. I respect their beliefs. I would never try to indoctrinate them or, or make them, Believe what I believe were, and I, there are teachers and administrators that we've heard who  are wearing Trump shirts  in their schools. 

That's,  that's weird. 

So if you are a rebel, like we are, you'll frequently get accused of trying to indoctrinate kids, which I would never do. And we've said this over and over and over again, but if you are a teacher or you are a school year who is shocked by the state of affairs, Whether it was when we voted in Biden, or whether it is now that we voted back Trump back in if you don't understand why people are ignoring what you think are the biggest problems in America today,  then you need to be a part of the solution about centering literacy in this country, but also a civics education.

So I pitched a civics education elective.  And was told even though the California Department of Education and the U. S. Department of Education and my current district have released edicts  centering civics education. I got that elective. declined by my school leadership because they were worried that as a rebel I would indoctrinate our kids into what, learning about civics?

Because the things I'm hearing people talk about as to why they vote one way or the other for president is not based in reality of what a president actually has the power to control. You know, you and I both, you taught, I still teach ancient civ. And we learn about the foundations of democracy, the Greek examples, the Roman examples, and I look at the example that we've created our founding fathers set up, and it was very enlightened, based upon the successes and failures of both of those earlier models. 

And the executive branch is a very specific branch of government that does not have the power to do the things that we think it does, because our founding fathers intentionally did not want another king, they did not want another monarch. So if you don't like this country. Look again, it's not the president that has the ability to shape 

it.

Yeah. I love everything that you're saying, Trina. And I'm,  I'm trying to figure out where to go from here because I want to know more about your civics education. And I do know that the lack of knowledge. I think there's some really shocking statistics about the number of students who know the three branches of government or something, even 

adults, even adults. 

And like, there's just, we don't know how our government works. We don't even know what the difference is between a general and a primary election is, you know, like we're all just,  this is so broad and generalized. I know not every American,  I just think that the, the way, the way that we have prioritized convenience, technology, materialism, I think that it is all distracting us  from learning about  our government and how we can make an impact and have our voices heard.

And  I think podcasting. Has been just a really, really powerful, important outlet. I 

agree.  I agree. I mean, I think there are people who are parasitic on our, on us and on our society that are making money, gaining political power and influence over the distracting us in a million different ways from these bigger problems, like they want us dumb, they want us poor, they want us addicted.

So that we cannot rebel and form the better version of our society. Like we have a role to protect their free world. We have a role to defend democracy. We've got to get back to work at that. We have to appeal to our better angels. And that means  leaning in with love to the people that you think you hate right now, because we need each other so badly.

We are so lonely and so. Depressed and so desperate and we need each other. We have like abandoned our communities. Like there used to be like fraternal orders and you know, there used to be sororities or used to be groups. We used to be a community of people that got together and whether it was from heritage groups or what have you, but those have all gone away.

Like we are lonely and depressed. And so we are filling that hole with stuff,  buying things and Just going into dark places on the internet to fill that void. I say, come back, come back to love, come back to community, create spaces for each other and cross the political divide because my, my parents don't believe at all in my politics and I love them.

You know, we, we love each other.  I'm getting I'm getting really upset. Like it's been a hard week, right? It's been a really,  it's been a really, really hard week. And you asked me to talk about ice civics, right? Amanda. 

Yeah, and I just want to tell everyone listening, it's November 10th,  2024. It's only five days after the results of the election and I think we are very raw and my family and I don't agree on a lot of political issues either.

And it's, I haven't talked to them,  you know, we have, we have this kind of, we have this  understanding  just out of respect that for each other that that we don't talk about these things  because we care more about each other than,  you know, uh, being divided. But I do feel like there is this necessary,  yeah, bridging that needs to happen and it can't happen if we keep avoiding talking to each other  about politics. 

Because I think a lot of families have done that. They've just agreed to not talk about it. I mean, not really a way forward.  

No, all of it. We do need to be talking amongst ourselves. I, I think there are people I'll come back to this. I think there are people who are benefiting from the growing division between us and don't have our good best interests at heart like at all.

And  Okay, so I wanted to talk about when we talk about I civics. 

Yeah, 

I'm an I civics California fellow this year, when I went, what is I civics, it is a free curriculum available to all educators.  It, and it was established by retired Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O'Connor, because she was shocked and horrified at the lack of literacy about civics.

Systems in our nation, and I am to like, we need to get back to teaching our population about their role in a free democracy. Like, we all have an important role here. And 1 of the things when I teach, this is 1 of the reasons why I wanted to join. I civics who.  It's one of the most beautiful, perfect things going on in K 12 education right now.

I just really believe in iCivics. Is it perfect? No.  But it's pretty darn near close. I love what everything that they're doing.  But the thing is here,  back in ancient Greece times, they were finally willing to try something revolutionary with democracies because they threw off oligarchy.  And in an oligarchy, you've given power to the wealthy elites in your nation.

And what happens under their leadership is you get a growing income and equality problem, which is what we've been having here for years. So we had the subtle dark forces of wealthy billionaires. And I'm saying on both sides of the political spectrum,  pulling strings,  silencing candidates for Congress, for Senate, for presidency, who had a message to unite both sides against.

oligarchies, right? And now we've just surrendered entirely to it. So we, it's out in the open now. It's been, if you have a growing income inequality problem in your country, it's because despite whatever you think is going on, there's an oligarchical power structure at work.  And the way to fix this is through the very unsexy thing, guys have campaign finance reform.

We have to fight for this thing that seems boring, but is bipartisan. Where we, the taxpayers, fund the campaigns of our politicians, so that once they are elected, everybody gets the same amount of money, and it is coming from us, so once they are elected, they are beholden to us, not some weird, dark moneyed forces out there.

That is not rocket science. We need to do that. We need to get disgusting money out of our political process. Amanda, there was a This American Life episode. Do you ever listen to This American Life? I love it. Yes. I love it. Okay. So there was a This American Life episode and I meant to research it before we recorded, but we didn't have time.

It was a really beautiful story. I want to say it was like maybe six, seven years ago now. I don't know.  Of a candidate running for a humble congressional seat somewhere. I don't know where  he was a man and he was running on a platform of income inequality and he was a he was a democrat  and he got that call which I'm thinking a lot democratic candidates who've spoken against income inequality have gotten  and it was from the money left and I am not going to say who they are but it was a big big institution in this country, which has aligned itself with the Democrats  called this guy up and said, Hey, Hey, stop talking about income inequality.

Why don't you talk about  LGBTQIA rights? Why don't you talk about,  you know, the rights of ethnic minorities, leave this alone.  And it kept applying the pressure over and over on this individual to cave this beautiful soul  went on this American life and told his entire story. Why wasn't that frontline news? 

I'm sorry, but if we do not deal with the growing income inequality problem and the real  Real oppression of the people in the working class who are suffering, who are not benefiting from this quote unquote, strong economy. We will never get ahead of these problems. We've got to take care of our people.

We've got to redistribute, redistribute the wealth in a way that is fair and stop letting the wealthy billionaires get away with their oligarchies.  And that is apolitical. And that is what our founding fathers would say to us today. If they were here. 

Thank you. And I just want to add, you said it's not rocket science.

I think it's not rocket science who needs the power in K 12 education. Where the power needs to lie, which is the teachers. And most teachers are women. We need more say in all of this. 

A say. 

I'll say.  All right. I think, do you want to wrap it up here? I 

think we're done. 

All right. Thank you listeners. If you would like to join the conversation, you can go to teachershortagecrisis.

com. We would love to have you on  any, yeah,  any side, any, uh, political views you have, and especially the people who disagree with us or want to push back. We want you.  I think that that's so important. Yeah. And 

I, I want to say again to anyone who voted for Trump, I love you  and I understand. I think I understand you and um,  I, I, if you're a teacher, I don't, I don't care what, who you voted for.

I just want us to work together to fix this mess.  Thanks for listening, everyone. Please let us know if you want to join in this or any conversation on the podcast, because we have only begun to delve into each topic and we need your voice.  Don't forget to go to  TeacherShortageCrisis. com to sign the petition and join the movement to save K 12 schooling.

And remember, we may just be teachers, but we're the only ones who can fix this mess.