(WND)—It’s not easy being a public school teacher these days. Not only must they contend with often-conflicting demands from school boards and parents, but they are frequently unable (or not permitted) to discipline unruly students, must contend with a huge variety of culture and language distinctions, and must often intervene in instances of physical or psychological abuse. Teachers are also facing a massive influx of migrant children, making classrooms even more complicated.
“Teaching has turned into behavior management day care,” said one teacher. “It sucks the joy out of you all day, and then the parents are calling to suck out some more joy. A select handful of kids are incredible and fantastic. So many kids won’t turn anything in as in earning a literal 0 for the semester. While all of this is going on you’ll have admin and the network telling you the kids are failing because you didn’t set them up for success, you didn’t invent a new wheel, you didn’t take enough data, you didn’t love them into behaving better.”
Another person observed, “I feel like most teachers are stuck between a rock and a hard place. The school administrators fail to protect their teachers from those overbearing parents demanding good grades for their child, regardless of whether or not they earned it. They can’t teach anything anymore for fear of some parent getting mad or taking offense. It’s a mess.”
This isn’t to imply teachers are saints. Consider this hot mess of a headline: “Satan worshipping teacher who suffers from ‘mania and psychosis’ fired after Libs of TikTok exposé.” When you see stories like this, I wonder how anyone has the courage to send their kids to public schools in the first place.
And of course, academics are suffering, and not just because of the disastrous COVID lockdowns. Reading and math are steadily declining when compared to other nations. And yet progressive districts keep implementing more and more disastrous programs, such as the “equitable grading practices” that outlaw (outlaw!) “zeroes” for cheating or failing to turn in assignments.
As a result, many teachers are burned out and leaving the profession. Schools face massive staffing shortages. No one, it seems, wants to be a teacher anymore. Frankly, I can’t blame them.
I confess I have mixed feelings about teachers. I had some tremendous instructors in my youth, as I’m sure you had as well. I have numerous friends and relatives who have dedicated their professional lives to teaching, and have done a phenomenal job at it.
But there are, unfortunately, all too many teachers whose sole and exclusive goal is to indoctrinate their students into the extreme leftist lifestyle. Rather than equipping children with the tools for a productive adulthood, these change agents are turning students into helpless snowflakes and professional victims. In fact, many teachers are hired specifically for that purpose. Some states are even mandating extreme leftist ideological training for teachers.
Teachers are also tasked with the impossible job of walking the line between two deeply divided ideologies: the radical left and the conservative right. Nothing they do will please both these deeply polarized sides. Nothing.
And so teachers are leaving the profession. And it gets worse: Fewer and fewer people are entering the profession to begin with. According to the National Center for Educational Statistics, there is a massive drop in college students seeking degrees in education to pursue jobs in teaching. This decline has been going on for decades, but has accelerated in the last few chaotic years.
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This creates something of a doom loop. The teachers who remain get burdened with even more tasks and responsibilities, which leads to more burnout, which leads to more teachers leaving, etc.
The trouble, of course, is teachers are no longer required to teach. They’re tasked with indoctrinating, and that’s a whole different ball game. Tyrants throughout history have learned the most effective way to stay in power is to capture children while young, and America is no exception. As a result, public school kids can spew endless drivel about climate change (which contributes to a massive mental health crisis) but can’t add fractions or subtract. In fact, the public education system has now become a laughingstock on the world stage.
Bottom line: The good teachers are working against the tide with a broken system, and the bad teachers are part of the problem. The good teachers are being drummed out or scared away from teaching to begin with, and only the nutcases remain.
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So what will public schools do with such a teacher shortage? Well, in the spirit of never letting a crisis go to waste, there are all kinds of ideas now being put forth, all of which are determined to raise a progressive phoenix from the ashes of education.
One of those ideas – put forth, unsurprisingly, by Bill Gates – is to have AI teachers. While he stopped short of saying these would replace human teachers, he certainly feels it could supplement instruction in the classroom. Three guesses who will be programming these AI instructors.
All of this seems to me like rearranging the deck chairs of the Titanic. Public education has been subject to fads for decades, certainly since I was a child in the 1960s and ’70s. Yet somehow nothing ever improves. Only when competition exists (i.e. private schools, etc.) do academics flourish.
As long as the extreme leftists have an iron grip on public schools, things will continue to spiral downward in American education. More and more good teachers will throw up their hands in frustration and retire, leaving the radical teachers to continue the doom loop.
The future of public education is anyone’s guess.
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Five Things New “Preppers” Forget When Getting Ready for Bad Times Ahead
The preparedness community is growing faster than it has in decades. Even during peak times such as Y2K, the economic downturn of 2008, and Covid, the vast majority of Americans made sure they had plenty of toilet paper but didn’t really stockpile anything else.
Things have changed. There’s a growing anxiety in this presidential election year that has prompted more Americans to get prepared for crazy events in the future. Some of it is being driven by fearmongers, but there are valid concerns with the economy, food supply, pharmaceuticals, the energy grid, and mass rioting that have pushed average Americans into “prepper” mode.
There are degrees of preparedness. One does not have to be a full-blown “doomsday prepper” living off-grid in a secure Montana bunker in order to be ahead of the curve. In many ways, preparedness isn’t about being able to perfectly handle every conceivable situation. It’s about being less dependent on government for as long as possible. Those who have proper “preps” will not be waiting for FEMA to distribute emergency supplies to the desperate masses.
Below are five things people new to preparedness (and sometimes even those with experience) often forget as they get ready. All five are common sense notions that do not rely on doomsday in order to be useful. It may be nice to own a tank during the apocalypse but there’s not much you can do with it until things get really crazy. The recommendations below can have places in the lives of average Americans whether doomsday comes or not.
Note: The information provided by this publication or any related communications is for informational purposes only and should not be considered as financial advice. We do not provide personalized investment, financial, or legal advice.
Secured Wealth
Whether in the bank or held in a retirement account, most Americans feel that their life’s savings is relatively secure. At least they did until the last couple of years when de-banking, geopolitical turmoil, and the threat of Central Bank Digital Currencies reared their ugly heads.
It behooves Americans to diversify their holdings. If there’s a triggering event or series of events that cripple the financial systems or devalue the U.S. Dollar, wealth can evaporate quickly. To hedge against potential turmoil, many Americans are looking in two directions: Crypto and physical precious metals.
There are huge advantages to cryptocurrencies, but there are also inherent risks because “virtual” money can become challenging to spend. Add in the push by central banks and governments to regulate or even replace cryptocurrencies with their own versions they control and the risks amplify. There’s nothing wrong with cryptocurrencies today but things can change rapidly.
As for physical precious metals, many Americans pay cash to keep plenty on hand in their safe. Rolling over or transferring retirement accounts into self-directed IRAs is also a popular option, but there are caveats. It can often take weeks or even months to get the gold and silver shipped if the owner chooses to close their account. This is why Genesis Gold Group stands out. Their relationship with the depositories allows for rapid closure and shipping, often in less than 10 days from the time the account holder makes their move. This can come in handy if things appear to be heading south.
Lots of Potable Water
One of the biggest shocks that hit new preppers is understanding how much potable water they need in order to survive. Experts claim one gallon of water per person per day is necessary. Even the most conservative estimates put it at over half-a-gallon. That means that for a family of four, they’ll need around 120 gallons of water to survive for a month if the taps turn off and the stores empty out.
Being near a fresh water source, whether it’s a river, lake, or well, is a best practice among experienced preppers. It’s necessary to have a water filter as well, even if the taps are still working. Many refuse to drink tap water even when there is no emergency. Berkey was our previous favorite but they’re under attack from regulators so the Alexapure systems are solid replacements.
For those in the city or away from fresh water sources, storage is the best option. This can be challenging because proper water storage containers take up a lot of room and are difficult to move if the need arises. For “bug in” situations, having a larger container that stores hundreds or even thousands of gallons is better than stacking 1-5 gallon containers. Unfortunately, they won’t be easily transportable and they can cost a lot to install.
Water is critical. If chaos erupts and water infrastructure is compromised, having a large backup supply can be lifesaving.
Pharmaceuticals and Medical Supplies
There are multiple threats specific to the medical supply chain. With Chinese and Indian imports accounting for over 90% of pharmaceutical ingredients in the United States, deteriorating relations could make it impossible to get the medicines and antibiotics many of us need.
Stocking up many prescription medications can be hard. Doctors generally do not like to prescribe large batches of drugs even if they are shelf-stable for extended periods of time. It is a best practice to ask your doctor if they can prescribe a larger amount. Today, some are sympathetic to concerns about pharmacies running out or becoming inaccessible. Tell them your concerns. It’s worth a shot. The worst they can do is say no.
If your doctor is unwilling to help you stock up on medicines, then Jase Medical is a good alternative. Through telehealth, they can prescribe daily meds or antibiotics that are shipped to your door. As proponents of medical freedom, they empathize with those who want to have enough medical supplies on hand in case things go wrong.
Energy Sources
The vast majority of Americans are locked into the grid. This has proven to be a massive liability when the grid goes down. Unfortunately, there are no inexpensive remedies.
Those living off-grid had to either spend a lot of money or effort (or both) to get their alternative energy sources like solar set up. For those who do not want to go so far, it’s still a best practice to have backup power sources. Diesel generators and portable solar panels are the two most popular, and while they’re not inexpensive they are not out of reach of most Americans who are concerned about being without power for extended periods of time.
Natural gas is another necessity for many, but that’s far more challenging to replace. Having alternatives for heating and cooking that can be powered if gas and electric grids go down is important. Have a backup for items that require power such as manual can openers. If you’re stuck eating canned foods for a while and all you have is an electric opener, you’ll have problems.
Don’t Forget the Protein
When most think about “prepping,” they think about their food supply. More Americans are turning to gardening and homesteading as ways to produce their own food. Others are working with local farmers and ranchers to purchase directly from the sources. This is a good idea whether doomsday comes or not, but it’s particularly important if the food supply chain is broken.
Most grocery stores have about one to two weeks worth of food, as do most American households. Grocers rely heavily on truckers to receive their ongoing shipments. In a crisis, the current process can fail. It behooves Americans for multiple reasons to localize their food purchases as much as possible.
Long-term storage is another popular option. Canned foods, MREs, and freeze dried meals are selling out quickly even as prices rise. But one component that is conspicuously absent in shelf-stable food is high-quality protein. Most survival food companies offer low quality “protein buckets” or cans of meat, but they are often barely edible.
Prepper All-Naturals offers premium cuts of steak that have been cooked sous vide and freeze dried to give them a 25-year shelf life. They offer Ribeye, NY Strip, and Tenderloin among others.
Having buckets of beans and rice is a good start, but keeping a solid supply of high-quality protein isn’t just healthier. It can help a family maintain normalcy through crises.
Prepare Without Fear
With all the challenges we face as Americans today, it can be emotionally draining. Citizens are scared and there’s nothing irrational about their concerns. Being prepared and making lifestyle changes to secure necessities can go a long way toward overcoming the fears that plague us. We should hope and pray for the best but prepare for the worst. And if the worst does come, then knowing we did what we could to be ready for it will help us face those challenges with confidence.
