a teacher dropped this bomb on his way out the door;

It has been said, “Teaching is the greatest act of optimism”, and it is. I just retired from education after thirty-plus years as a high school teacher. I brought tremendous creativity, energy, and a little irreverence to my teaching, and students would tell you mine was one of their most enjoyable classes. Now in my 60s, I just don’t have the same enthusiasm I once did. My optimism for what is trending in public education is also running on fumes. Like a skilled party guest, it’s important to know when to leave.

It is said that you only need a sip of wine to know if the bottle is any good. What about three decades of “sips” in many classrooms? My first public school teaching position was in an “urban” Nevada school that was so gang-infested that one vice principal wore a kevlar vest under his button down shirt. I once asked a Hispanic student in one of the gangs, “Why don’t you warring gang kids band together and become a united group? You have so many of the same struggles.” He said, “Because if we’re better than at least one other gang at least we’re better than somebody, Holmes.” Telling.

By and large I genuinely liked the Spanish-speaking kids mostly because they interacted with me (as a bilingual) differently than they did with other teachers who weren’t. For the most part I found them friendly enough so long as you gave them a fair shake and never ‘dissed’ them. Hispanics are one-on-one reciprocal in interpersonal assessment, something I liked about them. That said, once you get beyond a percentage tipping point, they’re just as “our race over yours” as blacks.

The impact of illegal aliens on America’s schools is tectonic. The tax dollars spent to serve illegals (and feed and provide them health care) in our schools is obscene. Federal costs alone come to nearly seven billion dollars. In my state of Tennessee there is about $383 million in education spending on undocumented students (2017 figures.) Certainly it’s more now. Educating/serving children in foreign languages is twice as much per person as native born children. What do we get for this cash hemorrhage? Staggering truancy, a spike in discipline issues, low test scores and a high school dropout rate three times the white rate and twice the black rate. They receive free education, free meals, often free day care, and free medical services in school, yet, as with blacks, they loudly demand more rights, privileges, and entitlements. Mainstreaming these students into the regular classroom doesn’t serve them very well and results in a lower common denominator that puts a drag chute on higher performing students. (Much more on this to follow.)..........more..........