Posted on 11/21/2005 4:10:18 PM PST by DuckFan4ever
When Satch,* who graduated in June 2001, returned to my classroom last spring, he bore little physical resemblance to the gangly, bespectacled youth who once sat in my sophomore English class. He strode through the door in neatly pressed military garb, hat pressed to his right hip, a thick-chested, heavily tattooed man. I noticed that contacts replaced the Coke-bottle glasses he once wore. But when we shook hands, his smile revealed more than a glimmer of the angry, confused kid who had struggled at school.
"They're shipping me to Iraq," he told me. "I leave in one week." The tone of his voice betrayed the poise and the confidence his uniform projected.
--Snip--
Late in his senior year, he signed up with the Marines. I felt dismayed and helpless. It seemed to me that Satch had other—better—choices.
--Snip--
On Sept. 11, 2001, Satch was serving in Europe. Through his emails I learned sparing details about the anti-terrorist unit he had been assigned to in the Mediterranean. When the United States invaded Iraq in March 2003, Satch was stationed in Spain. He questioned the justification for the war and had difficulty staying quiet. "You taught me to think critically," he once wrote, "but here that isn't always possible."
"Since I been in I realized how much of the recruiters' job is bullshit. They're taught...trained...to talk easily about politics and how to make jokes. Seriously, they take lessons on this stuff."
Satch said that in high school he felt directionless. "Recruiters feed off of low esteem, man." The military recruiters who sought Satch's signature had promised him "a lot of respect, the chance to become a man who had a purpose. They glamorize it. Recruiters make the military to be exactly what you need it to be."
(Excerpt) Read more at rethinkingschools.org ...
Totally made up.
In a similar vein but from a different point of view, might I recommend: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0786710977/103-1345784-2994234?v=glance&n=283155&s=books&v=glance
Do you mean that the teacher's references to the student who became a Marine were made up or is the reporting of these references made up?
Let me get this straight: the kid was in Europe on 9/11 and now he is angry to be going to Iraq?!? How long was his enlistment (usually Marines sign up for 4 years I believe)? Did he reenlist? Sounds pretty bogus to me.
OK, he was an angry confused kid who had trouble with school.
Exactly where would he be if he hadn't signed up? Publik skool didn't seem to be doing the trick.
Seems like the perfect kind of guy to have a change of direction.
I could tell the euphemism 'to think critically' actually meant 'to question everything this stinking government says.'
I am convinced you are right. I don't know what to do about teachers like this. They are the underground representing anyone dispising the United States.
Well, yes, there is that...
LOL
Hey, don't expect a leftist to admit that.
Sounds like a load af BS to me. If he were a marine he'd have his head on straight. Marines are taught to think on their feet and not to go around crying about things to their high school teachers. As a former marine I am disgusted that this was even posted other than to show people the BS that comes from some people.
Semper Fidelis!
Draft the teacher and make him clean latrines.
The History and Philosophy of Rethinking Schools Nineteen years ago, a group of Milwaukee-area teachers had a vision.
They wanted not only to improve education in their own classrooms and schools, but to help shape reform throughout the public school system in the United States.
Today that vision is embodied in Rethinking Schools.
Rethinking Schools began as a local effort to address problems such as basal readers, standardized testing, and textbook-dominated curriculum. Since its founding in 1986, it has grown into a nationally prominent publisher of educational materials, with subscribers in all 50 states, all 10 Canadian provinces, and many other countries.
While the scope and influence of Rethinking Schools has changed, its basic orientation has not. Most importantly, it remains firmly committed to equity and to the vision that public education is central to the creation of a humane, caring, multiracial democracy. While writing for a broad audience, Rethinking Schools emphasizes problems facing urban schools, particularly issues of race.
Throughout its history, Rethinking Schools has tried to balance classroom practice and educational theory. It is an activist publication, with articles written by and for teachers, parents, and students. Yet it also addresses key policy issues, such as vouchers and marketplace-oriented reforms, funding equity, and school-to-work.
continues..
Schools are about more than producing efficient workers or future winners of the Nobel Prize for science. They are the place in this society where children from a variety of backgrounds come together and, at least in theory, learn to talk, play, and work together.
Schools are integral not only to preparing all children to be full participants in society, but also to be full participants in this country's ever-tenuous experiment in democracy. That this vision has yet to be fully realized does not mean it should be abandoned.
There are many reasons to be discouraged about the future: School districts nationwide continue to slash budgets; violence in our schools and cities shows no signs of abating; attempts to privatize the schools have not slowed; and the country's productive resources are still used to make zippier shoes, rather than used in less profitable arenas like education and affordable housing.
There is a Zulu expression: "If the future doesn't come toward you, you have to go fetch it." We believe teachers, parents, and students are essential to building a movement to go fetch a better future: in our classrooms, in our schools,and in the larger society. There are lots of us out there. Let's make our voices heard.
Despite Rethinking Schools' growth in the last decade, it remains a small nonprofit organization directed by editors and editorial associates who volunteer their time, aided by a small staff. We welcome your feedback, and encourage you to join us in rethinking our schools and our society.
OK-I call BS on this whole story. The kid supposedly graduated in June 2001 and was serving "in Europe" by 9/11. Totally impossible that he would have had time to get through the training cycle in time for that. This is (yet) another phony story told by a lib using GIs (real or imaginary) for their agenda.
He wouldn't be fit to clean my latrine.
Yep....came across as politically motivated crappola to me as well.
I also am a former Marine, and I work with this teacher. I felt it was important for people to know how much the English and Social Studies teachers have changed. It used to be the Social Studies teacher was typically an ex-jock who majored in education so he could coach. Now all the Social Studies teachers are left wing activists intent on indoctrinating students in their ideology. They claim it is 'critical thinking'.
Tell me about it. I have a cousin who teaches at Portland State U. We have not spoken since shortly after 9/11. My fault, I reckon. I went ballistic on her when I couldn't convince her that Bush did not hire the pilots who drove the planes into WTC. A talented and gifted person who went to the U of Chicago during the late 60's. Came back to Oregon all screwed up.
When I was in my last year of school, seriously considering the military as a career, I sought advice from a lot of men I admired.
This was during Vietnam, our school Chaplain (it's a private school in Australia - the Chaplain also taught us Scripture) was committed to the anti-war movement, and was a committed pacifist. I liked him. I admired him. And I consulted him about this as I did other men I liked and admired.
He told me military service was a good career, and one in which I'd find challenge and a great deal of satisfaction. It wasn't really what I expected to hear, and I said so.
And I remember his reply - he said that he never hid his beliefs from the boys he ministered to and who he taught. And he never would. But as a teacher, his greatest goal in life was to create independent thinkers - and that meant that he had to be open to the idea that his students would reach different conclusions than he had. If they all believed what he believed, he'd be a profound failure as a teacher.
The main goal of a good teacher was to help children become adults who would stand by their own beliefs - not parrot the beliefs of the people who taught them.
Today, I am a teacher myself - and everyday I try to remember what he taught me that day.
Write him. His email is on the article. His work email is kmeiner@pps.k12.or.us The principal at the school is Dave Hildreth. His email is dhildret@pps.k12.or.us
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