School Hiring Today?

Is this what we've come to?  Is it any wonder that our schools are failing in their primary task, that of teaching an academic program of studies?  

Social engineering rules the day!

Personal anecdote....

Back in the Stone Age (1973 A.D.), when I was fresh out of college and certified to teach Spanish at the secondary-school level, I interviewed for my first teaching position, a job in the local public-schools system; at that time, the director of personnel interviewed all applicants who had made the first cut. 

I very nearly didn't get the job because I had graduated summa cum laude from the university and had a background as a private-school student. I was told of those two failings in no uncertain terms. I responded, "So, you want to hire teachers who have an inferior knowledge of the subject matter?"

The interview promptly ended.  No job for me.

I went home in angry tears, my mind racing: 

Why had I bothered to work so hard during my four years at the university? 

During my time as a student teacher, why had I bothered to show that I could generate lesson plans which spoke to both the excellent and the below-average? 

How would I ever get a job in my chosen field? 

At that time, no private school in Northern Virginia would hire any new teachers without at least one full year of previous teaching experience, and that experience had to come from having taught in a public-schools system.

I was devastated.

But all's well that ends well.

My mother happened to know the county superintendent of public schools, who had previously been the director at a very prominent private school in Northern Virginia. As such, he had always stood for excellence in education and he continued to do so as the county superintendent of public schools.

Mom made the call. 

He was stunned and infuriated that the director of personnel had taken hiring new teachers to the lowest common denominator! The big push at that time on the part of the county superintendent of public schools was a program called "Commitment to Education," an overall goal promoting both excellence of character and academic achievement.  All in all, it was a good program.

Needless to say, the county superintendent of public schools intervened on my behalf, and I got the job.  I went on to teach for the county for five years.  Why I gave up that position is another story for another time.

All of the above said, I am not in the least bit surprised that today's hiring of teachers has sunk to the lowest common denominator of our day: the hiring of outspoken, proselytizing sexual deviants.

Related reading: NYC taxpayers paying for ‘Drag Story Hour’ for drag queen to interact with children (August 5, 2022).

A Break For Beauty

(For politics, please scroll down. New post published on April 2)

Rainbow here in Northern Virginia on April 1. Photo courtesy of NextDoor Online Neighborhood:

Voices From The Past

Please take a few minutes to watch the two short videos below:





Below is the most-watched YouTube documentary on the topic of the 1918 Spanish Flu epidemic — if you have time to watch (over 4 million views):


Now for my family's own stories.......


My father's younger sister, about age 7, died of "the aftereffects of the flu." Something like the 1990 film Awakenings? Full movie HERE at YouTube, albeit poor quality.  I highly recommend the film! It is available via Amazon Prime Video.

Dad occasionally spoke of what happened when his sister died: "The undertaker embalmed Chrissie at the house — and dumped the blood behind the barn."  The funeral service and burial were private.  The influenza didn't stop until everything was shut down: schools, funerals, churches, etc.  And the government refused to believe that something terrible was happening with Americans' health.  Until, that is, bodies began piling up on the sidewalks and in the streets of Washington, D.C.

My maternal grandmother (1898-1981) had a robust immune system. It fell to her to take care of her brother Walter, who brought influenza to their remote location in the mountains of East Tennessee when he was discharged from the US Army, fell ill himself, and gave the flu to his brother-in-law Fred, my grandmother's husband.  My grandmother sent her two children, one born in 1916 and the other in 1918 to her parents' farm and took care of Walter and Fred.

My grandmother related the story of those days in this way: "I got almost no sleep.  I went back and forth between the river for cold water and the menfolks' foreheads.  They were out of their heads with fever.  My sister brought food, called to me, and set the food down about 25 feet from the house; I fetched the food from there.  I don't remember how long all this went on.  Seemed like forever.  But Walter and Fred got well, and life went back to normal."

I asked Wawa how she stood those weeks of hard work as a nurse.  Her response: "Life isn't about what you want to do.  Life is about what you have to do."  She also told me of a particular safely measure she used: teetotaler though she was, she gargled in moonshine morning and evening.  And she swallowed that moonshine, too.

Bringing us back to today....A view of the front lines of this grim war against Coronavirus (dated March 23, 2020): The Growing Chaos Inside New York’s Hospitals.

And one more thing...in the immortal words of Gilda Radner:

Winter Blast!

(For politics, please scroll down)

Blizzard time. We're due.  The last horrible blast struck in 2010.

One of the prediction maps:

Photo from the Washington Post

The biggest concern, of course, is the possibility of losing electrical power.

How Do You Interpret This Photo?

The Waving Man, Fairfax County's local icon of days gone by:

Photo taken circa 1976, in Fairfax County, Virginia, by T. Wayne Gauthier

Andy also directed traffic at the local Little League games:

Islamic Slavery In Northern Virginia

(Two posts today. Please scroll down to today's first post)

See this DOJ report, dated March 5, 2014, for detailed information.

Video from ABC7 News:

Tuberculosis In Fairfax County

The result of illegal immigration combined with lax medical screening?

From the Washington Post:

Question About Deer Behavior

(Two posts today. Please scroll down)

Last night, I went out into my backyard at dusk. There stood a young buck almost identical to the one pictured at the left.

No matter how much I waved my arms, clapped my hands, and shouted, he did not flee or turn away.  On the contrary, he stood his ground and became aggressive in his stance.  The closer I got, the more he stamped his front legs and stared me down.

What was going on?  I've never seen a deer behave in that manner when it isn't rutting season.

Spring!

(If you must have politics, please scroll down)

Robins everywhere!

They've been around for a few weeks. But now that today is Palm Sunday, which typically marks the end of weather here Northern Virginia, I'm seeing even more of these beautiful birds, the harbingers of spring.

The song of the robin:

Inside The Dar-Al Hijrah Mosque

(with a hat tip to Atlas Shrugs)

The imam at the Dar Al-Hijrah Mosque in Northern Virginia calls for armed jihad:

Yonathan Melaku: "Allahu akbar!"

(Two posts today. Please scroll down)




From this source:

The Invasion Of The Stink Bugs

Note: This post is about six-legged stink bugs (insects) as opposed to two-legged ones (politicians).
Does your part of the country has to deal with these critters? Here in the suburbs in D.C. area, we have them by the hordes, with the numbers still increasing.

Even during the winter season, not a day goes by that I don't find in the house every single day several stink bugs — the first daily one dubbed "the morning stink bug" and promptly dispatched. Until a few years ago, I'd never even seen one of these insects.

Usually, pets will hunt down and dispose of a few six-legged pests. But not in the case of these brown marmorated stink bugs!

Now we learn that the invasion of brown marmorated stink bugs will be ramping up this spring and summer. Oh, joy.

A short video from my local television station WUSA9:

Iced In!

(image below from the Internet)

I won't be venturing out until a bit of a thaw arrives later today. No way can I get down that wheelchair ramp and to the car without falling!

Meanwhile, may the power stay on.