Don’t trash my people
When you call out my people, then it’s on. Many of my people are teachers. My brothers are longtime teachers. My mom was a teacher for decades. My sister-in-law is a veteran teacher. My wife was a teacher before becoming an educational administrator. Many of my in-laws either are teachers or were teachers and now are educational administrators. I teach full-time at a university and parttime at community college, so I have countless teachers as colleagues, and many of those colleagues are my close friends.
I don’t care what’s said about me. I’ve been writing this column for more than 25 years and have been called every name in every book. But if you call out my people, we have a problem.
And Donald Trump Jr. called out my people last week. He used the term “loser teachers” while serving as a warm-up act for Daddy before a speech in El Paso. Where I come from, which is not exactly a Manhattan penthouse, those are fighting words, Richie Rich Jr.
I don’t want to take his remarks out of context, though, because that’s what Junior and other such critics often claim people do. Junior was referring to “loser teachers” who “indoctrinate” students about the benefits of socialism “from birth.”
I’ve written in the past about this notion, so often perpetuated by conservatives, that teachers try to transform their students into mobs of raving liberals. The truth is most teachers are way too busy dealing with mandated curriculum, compulsory testing, difficult students, stupid paperwork and various other issues to do much indoctrinating.
Do a few talk politics in class? Certainly some do, but most don’t, from all I’ve seen, and I’ve seen a lot.
Do I? Generally I don’t, but I do when it’s relevant, such as in a class I’m teaching now about sociology and the media. Even though I have strong opinions about issues, I try to present both sides and allow all students to speak their minds. And in that particular class this semester, I have many Republicans, many Trumpistas, who feel free to say whatever they want … and do so frequently.
But it goes both ways. I had a colleague a few years ago who regularly taught his students about the wonders of trickle-down economics, and I had a high school English teacher who actively tried to recruit students into the John Birch Society. I know of many other right-wing teachers who preach that gospel, including current colleagues.
My bigger concern is Little Donnie calling teachers “losers.” Most teachers are underpaid, underappreciated, humble folks who love education, young people, or both, and dedicate their lives to what they love. If that makes teachers losers, then maybe we need to redefine what a loser is.
That’s because under existing definitions, a loser would be someone who had never had a job other than working for Daddy … or traveling around using his Daddy’s name to make shallow-as-a-mud puddle speeches for bundles of cash from crowds who don’t really love Junior but love Daddy.
Under existing definitions, a loser would be someone who kills animals, including elephants, not for food but for sport, for freaking trophies.
Under existing definitions, a loser would be someone who left his wife and five young kids and shortly thereafter hooked up with a former Fox New anchor.
Under existing definitions, a loser would be someone who secretly met with agents or our country’s biggest enemy to get “dirt” on a fellow American, then lied and lied about what he did.
Under existing definitions, a loser would be someone who denigrates the fine people who spend their lives educating our nation’s young people, trying to make the next generation even better than previous ones.
Those people, I’m tremendously proud to say, are my people.
Bret Kofford teaches writing and other subjects at san Diego state University-Imperial Valley. His opinions don’t necessarily reflect those of sDsU or its employees. Kofford can be reached atkofford@roadrunner.com