03-03-2017, 05:41 AM
(03-02-2017, 06:00 PM)TeacherinExile Wrote: Not necessarily. But one thing I learned early on as a teacher--mainly by substituting all over a big school district, as a way to hone a classroom management style prior to becoming a full-time teacher--is not to fight little battles. Writing up students for small infractions, like chewing gum in class, was not the way I wanted to invest my emotional and ethical "capital." I saved that for the big issues, like cheating and bullying. This kerfuffle with Jeff Sessions strikes me as just so much Democratic revanchism for whatever reason. Maybe the Democrats will succeed in getting a scalp by having Sessions resign. (I don't think he will.) And, personally, his recusing himself from any future investigation is sufficient penance...for now. Ask yourself this: Does our country really have the luxury of pursuing a long, expensive, and contentious investigation into the whole Trump/Russia connection? I don't think so.
My experience as a sub. I decide what I will tolerate and what I will not tolerate. I might not stop kids from talking, but I can draw the line on fighting words. I have a big peeve about students sitting on desks, which, if I did it, would suggest that I just won a share of the Super Duper Megabucks Lottery and am there only to announce to current co-workers that I am going to live like the owners of the company. get away with the taste of Donald Trump.
In reality I can deal with a minor lapse of behavior, and it is best that I do so. But "I will kill you" or "F--- you!" is good for a trip to the Principal's office. It's not for discussion in the classroom. Play smart-a$$ on me and you challenge my legitimate authority. I respect the kids and I expect reciprocation.
Quote:I say move on. This is not the battle Democrats want to fight, nor are they in a position of strength to successfully wage such a battle. If Trump and the GOP is going to be tripped up at all, let it be by virtue of their economic failings, not some low-grade ethical scandal. And by the way, I'm rooting for Trump to be successful (with some qualifications). There's simply too much at stake for all of us if he should fail. And that's coming from someone who opposed his candidacy every step of the way.
...Achieving high office with the aid of a foreign power is inexcusable. Winning may be a high objective, but ensuring that what one wins is a worthy quest is even more important. If as the football coach Vince Lombardi said "Winning isn't everything -- it's the only thing", even he had his limits. He didn't drug the opposing team's water supply or have the heat cut off to the other team's locker room. He may have had longer and more frequent practices. He may have had more say with the team on personnel choices. He may have gotten film footage of the opposing team's play in recent weeks.
It is important that we as Democrats stop any tolerance of office-seekers getting aid from foreign governments in winning office. The next time the Democratic nominee could be a left-wing populist who decides to get the aid of some other dictatorial regime -- let us say, the People's Republic of China.
Keep the prize worthy of the struggle, I say.
The ideal subject of totalitarian rule is not the convinced Nazi or the dedicated Communist but instead the people for whom the distinction between fact and fiction, true and false, no longer exists -- Hannah Arendt.