Excellent discussion, thank you. I am now following Dr. Haltigan on X. These conversations are urgently needed. I retired (early) from teaching high school English in 2019, largely in part to the govt ideologies we were required to follow and promote to students. I was called to be a teacher since gr 3, and was passionate about my students and subject until the 2000's, when political correctness increased to the point of being an ominous precursor of cancel culture.
Well-parented students (grounded in a stable upbringing) were frustrated by the lack of freedom to speak their views openly. I was frustrated feeling like simply teaching great literature and critical ideas became an uphill battle in all the social/mental health issues added to the English curriculum.
The last few years before I retired I began getting students, confused about their sexuality, and I was required to go along with name changes/allowing "him/her" to use the staff washrooms. It was heartbreaking watching education trans-morph into quasi social work.
Thanks again for such relevant, thoughtful posts letting us know we're not alone in realizing "the kids are not alright".
Hi Trish - thanks so much for the comment and sorry on the slow reply. It's of particular interest to me because both my grandmas and both my parents were teachers, as well as 2 of my 3 older brothers (one for a few years, another for a career), and I personally was the ER education director, and on several education committees for many years.
My brother retired early last year. He couldn't take it anymore for exactly the reasons you mention, and one of the last straws for him coincidentally was when the staff bathroom (his little refuge) was turned into the staff/transgender bathroom. The gender-confused kids who used it wrecked it. It was deranging to the teachers who deserved their own space.
You mention teachers transmogrifying into social workers. The exact same thing has happened to physicians. It is, as you say, heartbreaking because as part of this, standards of educational attainment had to be abandoned (you can't have instant equitable outcomes without lowering standards for certain groups/people). In medicine, what happened was that we took our eyes off the prize. The goal changed from working our hardest and doing our damndest to take care of sick people in their hour of need to spending increasing amounts of time on "social justice" issues. I am absolutely gutted that I am now hesitant, instead of proud, to call myself a doctor.
Thank you for introducing me to this scholar! I just subscribed to his Substack and read a few of his latest posts—truly refreshing!
Thank you both for speaking the truth. The yin yang symbol is no longer black and white, it is black and dark gray.
Excellent discussion, thank you. I am now following Dr. Haltigan on X. These conversations are urgently needed. I retired (early) from teaching high school English in 2019, largely in part to the govt ideologies we were required to follow and promote to students. I was called to be a teacher since gr 3, and was passionate about my students and subject until the 2000's, when political correctness increased to the point of being an ominous precursor of cancel culture.
Well-parented students (grounded in a stable upbringing) were frustrated by the lack of freedom to speak their views openly. I was frustrated feeling like simply teaching great literature and critical ideas became an uphill battle in all the social/mental health issues added to the English curriculum.
The last few years before I retired I began getting students, confused about their sexuality, and I was required to go along with name changes/allowing "him/her" to use the staff washrooms. It was heartbreaking watching education trans-morph into quasi social work.
Thanks again for such relevant, thoughtful posts letting us know we're not alone in realizing "the kids are not alright".
Hi Trish - thanks so much for the comment and sorry on the slow reply. It's of particular interest to me because both my grandmas and both my parents were teachers, as well as 2 of my 3 older brothers (one for a few years, another for a career), and I personally was the ER education director, and on several education committees for many years.
My brother retired early last year. He couldn't take it anymore for exactly the reasons you mention, and one of the last straws for him coincidentally was when the staff bathroom (his little refuge) was turned into the staff/transgender bathroom. The gender-confused kids who used it wrecked it. It was deranging to the teachers who deserved their own space.
You mention teachers transmogrifying into social workers. The exact same thing has happened to physicians. It is, as you say, heartbreaking because as part of this, standards of educational attainment had to be abandoned (you can't have instant equitable outcomes without lowering standards for certain groups/people). In medicine, what happened was that we took our eyes off the prize. The goal changed from working our hardest and doing our damndest to take care of sick people in their hour of need to spending increasing amounts of time on "social justice" issues. I am absolutely gutted that I am now hesitant, instead of proud, to call myself a doctor.
-Chris