By
Rabbi Nachum Shifren
December 30, 2009
NewsWithViews.com
We
as teachers cannot afford to sit on the sidelines any longer. It cannot
be business-as-usual as we seek to bring enlightenment to our over 100
charges each day, nonchalantly plowing through our benchmarks and state
standards. There is something deeply disturbing about our profession,
and the time has come to shed light on our role as the mentors of America's
youth.
Never before in my recollection has there been a youth so out of touch
with America's values. This applies to the upscale "westside"
schools as it does to the most challenging inner city environment. As
I patrol the halls at times during our announcement and pledge-of-allegiance
period, I see very few students or even teachers saluting to the flag.
Why is this important? Why must our students visibly identify with their
country? I bet you there are a whole bunch of teachers out there that
have given up on presenting an unabashed view of patriotism and altruism.
I sense that our destructive media and kowtowing boards of education prefer
not to instigate the leftist media with any above-the-radar incidents
that would bring scrutiny to their fiefdoms.
What's happening across the land is basically that we teachers of America
are losing our students. We are losing them to the Internet madness of
pornography, the armies of organized gangs marauding through our cities
and towns, the prolific drugs and stimulants that alter fragile, undeveloped
minds, but most insidious of all, we're losing our youth to a national
lethargy and political correctness that threatens to sap the collective
fighting spirit of America, turning us into victims and setting our nation
up for a home-grown fifth column, ripe for the picking of the leftist
ideologues that abound on our campuses.
For us teachers, it all starts in the credentialing programs. These are
often run by pinheads that are burned-out, self imposed refugees from
the classroom, putting on a facade of love of the profession, but in reality
want to be left alone, stress free and student-free. If teaching is so
wonderful, why are they out of the class? Why are they not in our inner
city ghetto schools, dealing with the gangs and violence that abounds?
Where are these self-professed "professionals" (funny, the more
PhD and magnanimous appellatives that surround their titles, the less
they seem to be fit for the daily rigors of campus combat!)? Answer: teaching
is difficult, not for the squeamish or faint-hearted. That's why it is
the COMPLETELY INEXPERIENCED, ROOKIE TEACHERS THAT GET FED THROUGH THE
MEAT GRINDERS of America's inner city campuses, untrained, inexperienced,
ill-equipped to deal with the dysfunction and often racist environment
that permeates the failing schools and fuels our out-of-control drop-out
numbers.
The experienced teachers either are re-assigned to the "good" schools (sans black/Hispanic racial contentiousness), or finagle getting some "administrative" gig--far away from the students--or, lacking the above, quit. California educrats tell us that the average lifespan of a teacher is 7 years.
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SEVEN YEARS? How much did it cost to train our teachers, how many man-hours to get them in para-professional positions, putting entire classes on hold while they plow through their course load on their way to getting credentials?
When
you talk to these teacher drop-outs, its not the money (what money?) that
bothers them. It's the total lack of administrative support, parental
backing, community indifference, and lack of validation toward their professionalism
that drives them away.
What we don't see in our nation's teachers, even the most erudite and
professional, is often a total lack of the raison d'etre for being a teacher
in America. Period. When one walks by the class, witnessing a myriad of
instructional aids, high-tech devices thrown in to make us look "modern,"
computerized classrooms with Internet auxiliary programs, and the like,
the naive observer gets the notion that all MUST be going great, what
with the arsenal of high-tech gadgetry and all.
What we don't see is the alienation and disconnect between imagery by design and the credo of each individual student's responsibility and connectedness with his or her country.
Essentially,
we're teaching in a vacuum. We draw no conclusions about our nation's
status among the nations, our uniqueness and special place in history,
and the role of the individual in asserting freedom and individual liberty.
Teachers nowadays are loathe to reinforce values that have etched their
way into American culture by our founding fathers, nor are they willing
to risk revealing the consequences of those values that will guarantee
our freedom in tomorrow's war of ideas and assaults upon our country.
Today's modern teacher cannot stand before a class and tell why America
is NOT a racist nation. Our educators cannot withstand the fuselage of
queries about why America considers itself "different" from
the plethora of dictatorships and tyrannies run roughshod over the globe.
What teacher today can, with straight face, unflinching clarity, and bold
assertiveness, claim, "there is no such thing as global warming,"
for example? Who among us has the audacity to insist that "multiculturalism"
is code for the unraveling of the national glue that holds us together,
often used as a racist ploy, chipping away at the very foundations of
America? Where is the teacher so confident and steadfast in principle,
that can withstand the run-away train of junk-grades, given to take the
pressure off due to "community activists" and football coaches
meddling into the teacher's grading system.
We've become lackeys of the administrations, grotesque miscreants in a
well-orchestrated dog-and-pony show by principals and administrators,
covering their collective behinds as they hoodwink entire communities
with the usual smiles and accolades given to let everyone know all's well.
What's needed for our profession is a book Alinsky DID NOT WRITE: Rules
for Radical American Patriotic Teachers.
We need to break the silence, adopt a radical, non-union stance in order to save our youth. That is, assuming we care!
Those
teachers that are ready to "come out" for America, are urged
to attend a one-of-kind seminar on January 21 in Los Angeles. We promise
you an exciting, no-nonsense program for and by teachers in the field,
leaders of America's youth, and politicians that are ready for less "hope
and change," as we prepare for the America that will survive with
faith and values intact.
Place and time will be communicated pending your email confirming your
participation.
All participants will receive a free copy of Rabbi Shifren's incredible documentary of L.A.'s inner city schools, "Kill Your Teacher"
Concerned parents are urged to come. Neighborhood councils, school boards, department chairmen and advocates for academic excellence are heartily welcome.
See you on the 21st! Semper fi
� 2009 Nachum Shifren - All Rights Reserved
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Rabbi Shifren is a southern California native. He graduated from UC Santa Barbara with a degree in Spanish and German literature. He has been a language teacher in LA City schools since 1992. He is also fluent in Hebrew. Having lived in Israel for nearly a decade, he has been an observer and commentator of developments in Israel, the Israeli and foreign press, and the recent rise of Islamic Jihad.
He
is also the dirctor of "surf and soul" surfcamp, where teens
learn self-discipline, proper attitude, and physical fitness. A Malibu
surfer since 1962, he is known universally as the surfing rabbi. Through
his seminars and classes, he has taught thousand the challenge and thrill
of wave riding and the postive aspects of the surfing life style.
Rabbi Shifren has declared his candidacy for the Calif.
State Senate in 2010, and is the only candidate to openly pledge to
oppose the advent of Sharia law in the United States. He is a tireless
supporter of individual freedoms and preserving the distinctive greatness
of America, her language, and culture. Known for his no-nonsense approach
to education and prison reform, Rabbi Shifren is in his own class of patriotism
and staunch conservative values.
Rev. Jesse Lee Petersen said: "If we had 10 more teachers like Rabbi
Shifren, we could turn America around tomorrow."
E-Mail: rabbi.shifren@gmail.com
Website: rabbiforsenate.com/
