It’s Been a Helluva Year!

This year I ended my thirty year career as a teacher. I didn’t do so in the usual way where I retire and get my plaque and pat on the back for a job well done. Instead, I went out with a bang (sans plaque). I resigned in protest after over six-hundred books were removed from my classroom. You can read about this in other posts.

In this Mad Sociologist in the News video I offer what I hope to be my final analysis on this topic. As it stands, I’m still under state investigation, but there has been no movement in this regard. My lawyer and I believe that the state would rather this issue just went away and they could close the book on this chapter quietly, like reading a racy novel, hoping nobody noticed.

That’s not my goal. Here’s my analysis of my anecdotal experience as well as an objective (or at least to the extent that I’m capable of being objective) analysis of the larger social and political issues.

Sources

Florida Adopts Even More Punitive Provisions Against Teachers and Students To Implement New Controversial Education Laws – PEN America

Florida’s Ongoing Censorship Campaign: Cracks in the Facade (pen.org)

Florida classroom bookshelves left empty as education reform law goes into effect – CBS News

The Weight of the Poor: A Strategy to End Poverty | The Nation

Thousands of books awaiting review; more certified media specialists needed to expedite task | News, Sports, Jobs – North Fort Myers Neighbor

The Abode of Life | Memory Alpha | Fandom

21-476 303 Creative LLC v. Elenis (06/30/2023) (supremecourt.gov)

A Classroom Without Books – The Mad Sociologist Blog

Educator Pay Data 2024 | NEA

My Letter of Resignation – Mr. Andoscia’s Classroom (mrandosciasclassroom.net)

Florida Teacher Pay Sinks in National Rankings | Florida Education Association (feaweb.org)

SPENT (playspent.org)

Why are Texas teachers quitting in record numbers? This is what they said. (youtube.com)

Honors Economics – Mr. Andoscia’s Classroom (mrandosciasclassroom.net)

First, They Came for the Teachers – The Mad Sociologist Blog

Print – datacenter.spps.org/uploads/SOTW_A_Nation_at_Risk_1983.pdf (edreform.com)

The Role of Government in Education* (utexas.edu)

Opinion | What the ‘Government Schools’ Critics Really Mean – The New York Times (nytimes.com)

Survey: Educators’ Political Leanings, Who They Voted For, Where They Stand on Key Issues (edweek.org)

Political Opinions of K–12 Teachers: Results from a Nationally Representative Survey | The Heritage Foundation

How Democrats, Republicans differ over K-12 education | Pew Research Center

Drivers of Authoritarian Populism in the United States – Center for American Progress

Adorno’s Theory of Authoritarian Personality: What is it and What Does it Study? | 2024 (psychologyfor.com)

The Paranoid Style in American Politics, by Richard Hofstadter (harpers.org)

Adorno, T. W., Frenkel-Brunswik, E., Levinson, D. J., & Sanford, R. N. (1950). The authoritarian personality. Harpers.

New research explores authoritarian mind-set of Trump’s core supporters – The Washington Post

FDA Approves First COVID-19 Vaccine | FDA

Here’s Everything the Federal Government Has Done to Respond to the Coronavirus So Far (pgpf.org)

U.S. COVID-19 Stimulus and Relief (investopedia.com)

Pulmonary expert: Chauvin held knee on Floyd’s neck for 3 minutes after there was no oxygen left in his body (nbcnews.com)

The big drop in American poverty during the pandemic, explained – Vox

Mad Sociologist in the News Volume 4 Episode 3a The Problem with Policing (youtube.com)

Mad Sociologist in the News Volume 4 Issue 3b: Defund the Police (youtube.com)

State Policing Reforms Since George Floyd’s Murder | Brennan Center for Justice

Opinion | Why Wokeness Has So Many Opponents – The New York Times (nytimes.com)

What is critical race theory? Schools, lawmakers, and scholars are divided. – Vox

Why ‘wokeness’ has become the latest battlefront for white conservatives in America (theconversation.com)

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis’ anti-critical race theory law to take effect – ABC News

The groups aiding protests against masks, vaccines and Critical Race Theory : NPR

School boards get death threats over race, gender, mask policies (reuters.com)

School Board Chaos: Tensions Continue To Rise At Meetings Across U.S. (youtube.com)

Florida says it doesn’t want indoctrination in schools — but look at the materials it just approved – The Washington Post

Large majorities of voters oppose book bans and have confidence in libraries | ALA

Parents Assert Parental Rights in Challenge to Florida’s Discriminatory Book Ban Policy | ACLU of Florida | We defend the civil rights and civil liberties of all people in Florida, by working through the legislature, the courts and in the streets. (aclufl.org)

With his 2024 effort over, DeSantis rethinks Florida’s ‘book ban’ (msnbc.com)

How Americans view gender-neutral pronouns | Pew Research Center

America’s teacher shortage broken down by state, from Florida to Utah (usatoday.com)

More than 7,000 teaching positions remain open in Florida | WUSF

Where did the covid microchip vaccine conspiracy theory come from? – The Verge

Inside the American schools being torn apart by controversial race teaching (telegraph.co.uk)

Star Trek — Kirk Kisses Uhura (youtube.com)

Defund the Police: What It Means and How It Could Work (wsj.com)