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I have lived in the Pasadena area for 33 years, and have been an active member throughout those years, serving as a classroom teacher and coach, working with both the Buccaneers (as a coach and Athletic Director,) and Pasadena Chargers Youth Athletic Clubs. Coaching my eldest daughter in softball with Riviera Beach. My youngest daughter also played Field Hockey with Lake Shore, but I left the coaching to the amazing coaches who knew the sport. 

I serve on the Y of Central Maryland's Community Leadership Board and was recognized with the Outstanding  Y Leadership Community Award. I have also been blessed with the opportunity of co-founding the Caring Cupboard a 501c3 nonprofit food pantry serving those in Pasadena and throughout all of Anne Arundel County; an organization that has been blessed by the District 3 community with support.  Because of my  work with the Caring Cupboard, I was humbled by being recognized by the Lake Shore/Severna Park Rotary with the Paul Harris Fellow Award, the Pasadena Voice Volunteer of the Month and recognized by the General Assembly with an Official Citation for dedication to the community, a community I proudly serve.

Thirty-six years ago…no, 55 years ago when I first entered the field of public education as a first-grade student, things were much different in the classroom. The walls were adorned with pictures of the Presidents, depictions of the cursive alphabet, a map of the United States and an American flag. 

The teachers, first and foremost, commanded respect. They were not our friends. Discipline was not a concept, it was the way of life. Not a way, the way. Discipline wasn’t meted out according to wealth, sex or race. It was inclusive. Everyone treated the same. In fact, it was a two tiered system. First, the in-school punishment which was always followed by a phone call home, which invariably lead to an even harsher punishment. Teachers and parents worked in tandem. 

Following discipline and respect came instruction. Teaching always followed the curriculum. Teachers had a text book, a grade book and a lesson plan book. Instruction came from the textbook via the lesson plan, the result was always a grade in the grade book. Failure to turn in an assignment equaled a failing grade. No do-overs, no half credit. The expectation was, do the assignment. Period. Grading was like discipline. It didn’t matter who you were, you were treated equally. We didn’t call it equality, but that’s what it was. We called it life. 

There was no teacher union. All worked in unison to educate and develop character. Sure, there was a little more national pride. We said the pledge of allegiance. Were told America was a great place and Christopher Columbus discovered America. We were taught about slavery and the harsh treatment of Native Americans. It was never promoted as America bad, everyone else good. There were boys bathrooms and locker rooms and equal in quality a set for girls. One didn’t dare step into the room belonging to another, lest you wanted to trigger the punishment cycle. 

Fast forward to 1988, 36 years ago. Classrooms were similar to those in which I learned. Teachers were respected, they dressed apart from the students flags were still of the United States and state flag variety. Discipline, parental teamwork and expectations were the same. Then, something happened. 

I’m not certain when or where. I think it was gradual. May 4, 1980, Jimmy Carter opened the US Department of Education. Schools were no longer a function of local control. Dr. Spock and No Child Left Behind destroyed discipline. “Dangerous” schools would lose federal funding. Kids shouldn’t be punished, it hurt their self esteem. In 2009, Race to the Top dragged us right to the bottom. Boys and girls were allowed into each other’s previously hallowed space. Failure to allow it once again meant loss of federal funding. These were the beginnings of the end. A 30 year slide during which the federal government acquiesced more and more control to teachers unions. 

Don’t misunderstand me. I was raised the grandson of two coal miners. I understand the importance of unions. As a young teacher I was the union. I stood in the protest lines demanding higher pay and better working conditions. Which at the time meant less paperwork against an increasing duty load. Much of which was forced upon us by a government gone awry. 

Over the years, I saw the change. Unions (therefore teachers,) cared less about salary and working conditions and more about a liberal ideology. They started to dress like students and in some cases, worse. Yes, I witnessed a teacher in a school that required uniforms for kids, wearing cutoffs, sandals, a t-shirt and hat on backwards. 

School administrations turned away from discipline and accountability. Late work was given half credit. No work was given half credit. Make up was a full semester thing. Do-overs were unlimited. Kids were told they could do no wrong and it wasn’t good to feel bad about yourself. In fact, every feeling became one to validate. It’s not the kids fault became the mantra. Parents were becoming the enemy and not the partner. Teachers were to protect the students from the parents if necessary. This includes not sharing life altering decisions a child might be considering. The new goal is to allegedly “protect” the student from their family. To create a “safe space.”

Classroom walls look like Tibetan prayer flags with the number of pride flags, BLM flags and whatever social justice cause there is. Did you know there are at least 24 pride flags? 

Kindergarten teachers are reading books about transgenderism and promoting it and the pronoun phenomenon as something that’s always been. Proudly removed are American flags. Teachers openly boasting about the teaching of ideologies that have no business inside a classroom. Unions, once held in high regard as fighting for fairness are fighting to take parents rights and put biological males in female locker rooms and sports. Something that until about five minutes ago would have gotten a young man arrested. Now, it’s encouraged. 

Tik tok is full of teachers declaring themselves nonbinary whatever that means, expressing confusion as to what to have their elementary kids call them. Gone, are teachers talking about salary, about curriculum. Gone is instruction as it once was. Replaced by ideology. Replaced by DEI, CRT, light skinned people bad, people of color are oppressed. Biological males are birthing people. Parents are evil and should have no say in their child’s education. 

Enough’s enough. As a part of our history, they might all have so piece if taught in context. But not as the theme of our national education. It’s time to bring instruction back. 

While all of this is taking place our schools are failing. Test scores are abysmal. A 28% proficiency rating gives a school a three out of five star rating in Maryland. The administration celebrates three stars and ignores the 28%. We have lost a generation if not more with this nonsense. It’s time to focus on the fundamentals. It’s time to get back to the DRAWINGboard.