The Siuslaw News had replaced their temporary editor with their sports columnist. I had immediate difficulty with the man. I will refer to him as Ed (for editor) because I will be providing private messages that we exchanged. I submitted the following for publication March 2.
***
Ian Eales’s letter March 1 attacks teachers, their unions, public education, the Democratic Party, and the building of a new high school in Florence. He asserts the following:
“Schools are failing because they [teachers] expect nothing of the students – and that is what the students deliver.”
“Spending $40 million on a new school will not improve academic performance. … The building will be a monument to mediocrity.”
“Today’s education system is a bloated bureaucracy. Teachers unions overwhelmingly contribute to the Democratic party; the same party responsible for failing inner cities within Chicago, Baltimore, Detroit, Washington D.C., et al.”
“Throwing more money at the problem will not solve it. It is time for a change.”
Mr. Eales knows little about teachers and public education. A public school teacher for 32 years, I know how dedicated the vast majority of teachers are in their work. We teachers know the complexities of student learning better than Bill Gates, Mitch McConnell, or any person who is not a present or past educator.
I loathe what our critics say about us! Corporate know-it-alls and their paid political allies excoriate low student achievement test scores. It’s the teachers! they rant. Bad teachers, teacher tenure, the damn unions! Failing schools! Standardized test scores determine best a teacher’s effectiveness, they declare. (Never mind the deleterious societal effects of poverty, especially in inner cities: terrible living conditions, malnutrition, family dysfunction, parental disengagement. Never mind the considerable, widespread underfunding of schools that makes teaching ever more difficult) Clean house! Out with the bad, in with the good! Hail charter schools! (Hello, Betsy DeVos) Tough, uniform curriculum standards! Demand! Drill! Test!
A certain percentage of the general population has always had (and always will have) a negative opinion of the teaching profession. Teaching is easy, these people declare. It isn’t a full-time profession. Teachers are coddled. They’re overpaid. They whine. The old saying “If you can’t do anything else, teach” goes back to when I began teaching in 1957. Teachers have had to battle this perception for decades. How easy it has been for the champions of privatization – who have produced the films “Waiting for Superman” and “Won’t Back Down” and who have never themselves taught -- to rally uninformed, innately critical people to their cause.
Don’t fall for it. Corporate-funded “reform” activists are bent on ridding communities of veteran teachers, privatizing public schools, making education a money-making enterprise for niche businesses, and indoctrinating children with a corporatized, agenda-driven, by-the-numbers culture. A pox on them and their deluded followers.
***
Here was the response that Ed sent to me.
***
Good morning, Harold,
First, I want to say how glad I am that
someone rose to the defense of teachers in regard to the Eales
letter. Thank you for doing so and, hopefully, sparking a
conversation that is going to become increasingly important with the
disastrous appointment of Betsy DeVos. I’ll be happy to print your
letter in tomorrow’s Opinion page. However, there were a few spots
I felt went into a bit of a rant (my guess is that you wrote this
very soon after reading Mr. Eales’ letter). Also, the very end “A
pox on them and their deluded followers” goes against my rule to
avoid sarcasm and name-calling in letters. I think you did a great
job of passionately and constructively making your case without the
need to add ill wishes and name calling at the end.
Below
is a revised version, with some of what I felt were rants removed,
along with a re-worked ending.
Please take a look at it. I
want to keep your voice and tone while, at the same time, sticking to
my objective of maintaining an Opinion page that is respectful in its
discourse.
I’m open to discussing the changes if you
feel strongly about something I may have cut or revised. I will wait
to run it until I hear from you.
Again, many thanks.
***
Here was Ed’s revision.
***
Ian Eales’s Letter to the Editor (March 1) was essentially an attack on teachers, their unions, public education, the Democratic Party and the building of a new high school in Florence. In his letter, he asserts the following:
“Schools are failing because they [teachers] expect nothing of the students — and that is what the students deliver...”
“Spending $40 million on a new school will not improve academic performance. … The building will be a monument to mediocrity...”
“Today’s education system is a bloated bureaucracy. Teachers unions overwhelmingly contribute to the Democratic party; the same party responsible for failing inner cities within Chicago, Baltimore, Detroit, Washington D.C., et al...”
“Throwing
more money at the problem will not solve it. It is time for a
change.”
I suspect Mr. Eales knows little about teachers
and public education. However, as a public school teacher for 32
years, I know how dedicated the vast majority of teachers are in
their work.
Teachers
know the complexities of student learning better than Bill Gates,
Mitch McConnell or any person who is not a present or past
educator.
I loathe corporate know-it-alls and their paid
political allies, who excoriate low student achievement test scores.
“It’s the teachers!” they rant. “Bad teachers,
teacher tenure and the damn unions are the reasons for failing
schools.”
They declare that standardized test scores are
the best way to determine a teacher’s effectiveness.
Never
mind the deleterious societal effects of poverty, especially in inner
cities, where students face terrible living conditions, malnutrition,
family dysfunction and parental disengagement on a daily basis.
Never mind the considerable, widespread underfunding of
schools that makes teaching ever more difficult.
A certain
percentage of the general population has always had (and always will
have) a negative opinion of the teaching profession.
“Teaching
is easy,” they declare. “Teachers are coddled and
overpaid.”
Teachers have had to battle this perception
for decades. How easy it has been for the champions of privatization
— who have produced the films “Waiting for Superman” and “Won’t
Back Down” and who have never themselves actually taught in a
classroom — to rally uninformed, innately critical people to their
cause.
Corporate-funded “reform” activists are bent on
ridding communities of veteran teachers, privatizing public schools,
making education a money-making enterprise for niche businesses, and
indoctrinating children with a corporatized, agenda-driven,
by-the-numbers culture emboldened by the appointment of Education
Secretary Betsy DeVos.
Don’t fall for it.
***
My response.
***
Thank you for your consideration in emailing to me your suggested changes. I understand your position and the need for shorter letters. However, I believe that a writer’s passion on a particular subject must not be lost for the sake of politeness. I am fine leaving out condemning words about Mr. Eales’s letter and some other changes. Below is what I would consent to have printed. Otherwise, I would prefer that the letter not be printed.
***
I took out some of Ed’s revisions and put back some of what I wanted. Here was Ed’s response.
***
Hi Harold,
Thanks for getting back to me. I couldn’t agree
more with you regarding the need for passion in writing, and in
identifying a writer’s voice. I think what you’re saying is
important and I especially want those who [read] your message — Mr.
Eales in particular — to be reached. However, it’s been my
experience that references to “our,” “us,” “they” and
“them” immediately causes anyone who doesn’t already agree with
you to stop reading. That would be a shame. You’ve already
mentioned your years as a teacher. “I loath what our critics say”
could just as easily be “I loathe what critics say” with the
“our” in there.
The only other sticking point is my
aversion to generalized quotes without attribution, i.e., “It’s
the teachers!” they rant. Who is “they?” It’s unnecessarily
argumentative in tone, and could just as effectively be worded
“Critics blame bad teachers, teachers’ tenure and unions as the
reasons for failing schools.”
If you’ll meet me in
the middle with those points, I will compromise with you on the rest…
***
This was part of his new revision.
***
I loathe what critics say about teachers. Corporate know-it-alls and their paid political allies excoriate low student achievement test scores. They blame bad teachers, teacher tenure and unions as the reasons for failing schools, asserting that standardized test scores are the best way to determine a teacher’s effectiveness. Never mind the deleterious societal effects of poverty, especially in inner cities, where students face terrible living conditions, malnutrition, family dysfunction and parental disengagement on a daily basis. Never mind the considerable, widespread underfunding of schools that makes teaching ever more difficult.
A certain percentage of the general population has always had (and always will have) a negative opinion of the teaching profession. The old saying “If you can’t do anything else, teach” goes back when I began teaching in 1957, along with the perceptions that teaching is easy, that teachers are coddled and that they’re overpaid.
How easy it has been for the champions of privatization — who have produced the films “Waiting for Superman” and “Won’t Back Down” and who have never themselves actually taught in a classroom — to rally uninformed, innately critical people to their cause…
***
Ed ended his email with the following statement: “I’ll leave everything before and after those passages.”
***
My response.
***
I’m fine with your removing the personal and possessive pronouns. I respect your viewpoint. I felt that “they” has “our critics” as its antecedent but no matter. Removal of the quotation marks might have been one way of fixing your objection about the use of the generalized attributed speaker. You’ve reworded that section well. I would like to see the paragraph beginning with “A certain percentage” read as follows:
A certain percentage of the general population has always had (and always will have) a negative opinion of the teaching profession. They believe that teaching is easy and that teachers are coddled and overpaid. The old saying “If you can’t do anything else, teach” goes back to when I began teaching in 1957. Teachers have had to battle these perceptions for decades.
I want the second and fourth sentences included because the statements are true and the general public should be informed of it. Leaving them out weakens the purpose of the letter.
Again, I appreciate the time you have invested in communicating with me about your concerns. I have had no other editor do that. Thank you. Although I think I understand your desire as editor to ensure that letters that the newspaper prints do not incite a political flame war between the left and right, I suggest that times and incidents do occur when strong letters need to be directed at the opposition and absorbed by the general readership. If they are not written, the ideology that does not respect truth, that promotes the welfare of the few, that exploits the uninformed, that denigrates and persecutes, prevails. It’s a fine line you walk.
***
Ed’s response.
***
Thanks for working with me on this. I took your last suggestions into account and included them in this final version (below). Please look it over. If you’re good with it, I’ll get it into Wednesday’s paper.
Again, I appreciate your willingness to work with me, and for understanding that thin line I walk each day.
Be well.
***
My response (March 6).
***
One minor change. Instead of “as a public school teacher for 32 years” I would prefer “having been a public school teacher for 32 years.” Otherwise, good to go.
***
Is this what I am to expect now every time I send a letter to him! I thought. Should we letter writers not be the sole authors of what is printed? I am not interested in sharing authorship. Ed, you are printing an “opinion” page. I don’t want your opinions attributed to me!
***
Here is Ian Eales’s March 11 response to my letter. Curiously, he misidentified me.
***
In response to Donald Frerichs’ Letter to the Editor (March 8), he stated “I suspect Mr. Eales knows little about teachers and public education.” When I hire high school graduates who don’t know that one half and 50 percent are the same, I say the education system is failing.
He went on to say, “Never mind the considerable, widespread underfunding of schools…” when, in fact, Oregon spends 53 percent of its budget on education (Governor’s Budget 2017-19).
The country is on the hook for a $1 trillion in student loans ($966 billion Current Debt, plus $334 billion in Delinquent Debt.)
How much is enough?
We spend ever increasing amounts, make the education system larger and more complex and yet performance still declines.
I think Albert Einstein’s “The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again, but expecting different results” applies here.
According to Mr. Frerichs, began teaching in 1957, two years after Rudolf Flesch published “Why Johnny Can’t Read.”
In the ensuing 60 years, Johnny hasn’t learned to spell or do his sums either.
Very sad.
***
Here is a letter I wrote May 4 that was not printed. I don’t remember if I submitted it or if Ed chose not to publish it. I suspect the latter.
***
The Republican health care plan for America: “Don’t Get Sick.” If you do, “Die Quickly.” These quoted words were on a sign that Florida Congressman Alan Grayson presented on the floor of the House to reinforce a speech he delivered in late September 2009. The Affordable Care Act would be passed into law March 23, 2010. The Republican Party’s cruelty to Americans without influence or money was manifest then and is definitely that now.
“How do they get away with it?” you might ask. Appeals to voters’ greed, vilification of both the opposition’s leaders and the downtrodden, smoke and mirrors, lies, exploitation of man’s insecurities and basest instincts. Imagine any Republican member of Congress running for re-election telling the truth about his denial of global warming: “The devil with future generations! I need the fossil fuel industry’s campaign money to get re-elected. I serve corporations. Always. You think I want to be some two bit lawyer in Palookaville?”
His message to his cronies: “Money, money, money. He who gets it deserves more and more. That’s what makes America great. Now, let’s get together to figure out a few more lies to trick the rubes into voting us in again. To the rubes: “Obama Care? Dying on the vine. Our plan fixes it. Trust us.” And when they find out how bad it is, cue Shawn Hannity and Fox. We’ll blame it all, vociferously, on the Democrats!”
***
Too much sarcasm, Ed?
***
Republican letter writers Ian Eales and David Eckhardt had recently moved to Florence. Over the next several years they were frequent letter writers, their opinions causing me to want to cross swords with them. Here is a letter I wrote referencing Eckhart’s attack on Judy Preisler, the wife of one of my friends, a city councilman.
***
I take exception to several statements David T. Eckhardt made in his August 5 letter critical of Judy Preisler’s August 2 letter regarding the Trump administration’s change of ICE policy that permits its agents to arrest seemingly without exception unauthorized immigrants.
I did not appreciate Mr. Eckhardt’s insult that the Lane County commissioners, the state legislature, and citizens like Mrs. Preisler (and me) are “willfully ignorant of the facts,” that we “make judgments based on feelings.”
“I do not support unfettered and unrestricted hordes of people just coming here,” Mr. Eckhardt declared. This statement infers that immigration across our southern border prior to President Trump’s inauguration was just that: “unfettered” and “unrestricted.” He is wrong. An August 2016 NPR article (http://www.npr.org/2016/08/31/491965912/5-things-to-know-about-obamas-enforcement-of-immigration-laws) discussed President Obama immigration enforcement policy, encapsulated in this statement: “The Obama administration says it doesn't have the resources or the desire to deport millions of immigrants whose only crime was entering the country illegally. So, it has focused its enforcement efforts on particular targets: namely those caught near the border, those who've committed crimes and those who appear to have arrived in 2014 or later.”
Justifying his opposition to the sheltering of unauthorized immigrants, Mr. Eckhardt wrote: “… we are a nation of laws. … It is not our duty to ignore the law or subvert the law as is currently being done in our state and cities.” My ignorant-of-the-facts, bleeding heart response is laws are as good or as bad as the politicians who make them. Our country has suffered awful laws that have cried out for repeal -- slavery, Jim Crow legislation, segregation of schools, and voter disenfranchisement to cite several examples. An additional GOP Senator’s vote two weeks ago to repeal Obamacare would have led to millions of people being deprived of their medical coverage.
There is something very wrong about ICE agents in the middle of the night or any time seizing for deportation unauthorized immigrants who entered this country to escape certain death, who have lived here five or more years, who are the parents of children born here, who become contributing participants in a strong American economy, who have never committed a crime other than having entered the country illegally.
In a democracy, high-minded civil resistance to bad laws and executive branch policy must occur. Especially now, with our President fomenting so much hate.
Printed August 12, 2017, in the Siuslaw News
***
The editor made two changes. He put quotation marks around “ignorant-of-the-facts” and deleted “bleeding heart” in the middle of the letter and changed the final sentence of the letter to read: “Especially now, with our current President fomenting what I feel is so much hate.”
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