The need for nuance and understanding. The need to get out of your bubble and talk to people, to discover that we all want the best for our children. We may have different ideas as to what that is, but we want the best for our children.
A few years ago, I was talking to a Lutheran Pastor about an organization called the Common Good. I was advocating that the common good required a conversation to discover what the "common good" actually was. We were in a coffee shop, and I gestured across the street at a business and suggested that we needed to talk to the business owner to discover what he thought the "common good" was so that we could see what the common things were.
This Lutheran Paster & man of God, could not imagine talking to that business owner, because he / she might be right wing.
How can we have peace or build society, when we can't even have a conversation about what our shared interests might be.
I live in a conservative Midwestern state where this is an issue, so over the last 25 years I have experienced it from wildly different viewpoints - first as a single, childless person who voted mostly Democrat and (naively) looked forward to using public schools one day, to my current state as a married, conservative-leaning, pro-school choice suburban parent who regrets using public schools for my own children. The simple fact on the ground is this - follow the money. Rural public school districts are the best, steadiest and largest employer and economic engine in their communities. Almost everyone who lives there feeds off them in some way - either as employees, or vendors. That's why conservative rural politicians protect them. And since most rural areas are heavily conservative and Christian, they don't deal with the issues that inner-city and suburban public school parents face - arrogant and dismissive school boards, activist teachers, power-hungry teachers unions, constant turnover, declining instruction standards, the "social emotional learning" agenda, student violence, monthly school shooting threats, etc. Case in point - during Covid, rural districts here returned to in-person school in fall 2020 and never forced kids to wear masks, or restricted them based on vax status. But a short 15 miles away, in my district, kids were under siege - forced masking, vaccine pressure, constant testing, constant quarantines, sports restrictions, and hybrid or zoom school until a judge's ruling finally forced them to return to normal. As a result, the only parents in my district who reject vouchers, charters or school choice these days are hardcore Democrats who work in public education (while often sending their own kids to private school), or people who belong to unions. The rest of us are done.
Great interview. I love the idea and concept of highlighting how complex things are instead of living like a one click mini video.
Ok Tara, that was good.
The need for nuance and understanding. The need to get out of your bubble and talk to people, to discover that we all want the best for our children. We may have different ideas as to what that is, but we want the best for our children.
A few years ago, I was talking to a Lutheran Pastor about an organization called the Common Good. I was advocating that the common good required a conversation to discover what the "common good" actually was. We were in a coffee shop, and I gestured across the street at a business and suggested that we needed to talk to the business owner to discover what he thought the "common good" was so that we could see what the common things were.
This Lutheran Paster & man of God, could not imagine talking to that business owner, because he / she might be right wing.
How can we have peace or build society, when we can't even have a conversation about what our shared interests might be.
I live in a conservative Midwestern state where this is an issue, so over the last 25 years I have experienced it from wildly different viewpoints - first as a single, childless person who voted mostly Democrat and (naively) looked forward to using public schools one day, to my current state as a married, conservative-leaning, pro-school choice suburban parent who regrets using public schools for my own children. The simple fact on the ground is this - follow the money. Rural public school districts are the best, steadiest and largest employer and economic engine in their communities. Almost everyone who lives there feeds off them in some way - either as employees, or vendors. That's why conservative rural politicians protect them. And since most rural areas are heavily conservative and Christian, they don't deal with the issues that inner-city and suburban public school parents face - arrogant and dismissive school boards, activist teachers, power-hungry teachers unions, constant turnover, declining instruction standards, the "social emotional learning" agenda, student violence, monthly school shooting threats, etc. Case in point - during Covid, rural districts here returned to in-person school in fall 2020 and never forced kids to wear masks, or restricted them based on vax status. But a short 15 miles away, in my district, kids were under siege - forced masking, vaccine pressure, constant testing, constant quarantines, sports restrictions, and hybrid or zoom school until a judge's ruling finally forced them to return to normal. As a result, the only parents in my district who reject vouchers, charters or school choice these days are hardcore Democrats who work in public education (while often sending their own kids to private school), or people who belong to unions. The rest of us are done.