Larry Arnn Hates Teachers
And his Judeo-Christian Handmaid's Tale Patriotic Re-education Schools are coming to a town near you. Don't sleep on it. Do something.
As some of you know, a few weeks ago I received a solicitation email from Larry Arnn, the influential President of a place called (picture me making air-quotes) “Hillsdale College”. The College’s slogan is “Developing Minds. Improving Hearts”, which is weird because it counts Blackwater scumbag Erik Prince among its most prominent alumni. Not only is Prince is one of the sleaziest people on the planet, he cheated on his wife while she was dying from cancer.
So much for improving the heart.
Anyhow, a few weeks back Arnn solicited me on behalf of former Trump VP Mike Pence. This move was pretty outrageous since I never gave Pence my email, and the only time I ever thought about Mike Pence was the time I almost bought this shirt:
Recall, too, that Arne’s email also tried some good ol’ fashioned race-baiting hucksterism by telling an old Colin Kaepernick story and offering me a Betsy Ross flag in exchange for a $76 donation. Of course, I immediately deleted it…after I ripped it to shit.
Anyhow, I thought my relationship with ol’ Hillsdale College would stop right there. But it turns out that Big Lar’ isn’t just a race-baiting virtuoso, he’s quietly but extremely influential in educational circles. In fact, Arnn and Hillsdale have been quietly building a network of "classical education" charter schools, that use public tax dollars to teach that the US was founded on "Judeo-Christian" principles and that progressivism is fundamentally anti-American.
Worse, this Handmaid’s Tale-esque clandestine charter school movement has made Arnn the leading education adviser to current Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee (R). No, not a candidate for governor - THE ACTUAL EFFING GOVERNOR.
(Memo to Governor Lee: Don’t turn to a 69-year-old overeducated right wing blowhard to fix your education system. Want to know why your state ranks 38th out of 50 in secondary school achievement? It could be that your state has been GOP controlled since 1979. #trends)
So yes, Larry Arnn is at it again, but now he’s not trying to raise money/sell flags to racists, he’s decided to shit all over teachers. And not just some teachers. All teachers. In fact, at a recent invitation-only reception with Governor Lee, Big Lar’ repeatedly denigrated teachers, saying among other things:
“(T)eachers are trained in the dumbest parts of the dumbest colleges in the country."
“They are taught that they are going to go and do something to those kids ... Do they ever talk about anything except what they are going to do to these kids?"
"In colleges, what you hire now is administrators ... and because they are appointing all these diversity officers, what are their degrees in? Education. It's easy. You don't have to know anything."
“You will see how education destroys generations of people. It's devastating. It's like the plague.”
Can you imagine if a white male public figure made similarly disparaging comments about the police? Or veterans? Of fire department workers? No, you can’t. But a white male advisor to a sitting governor can feel free to shit all over a female-dominated profession without correction.
But what’s most telling to me is that Arnn’s comments earned him a very special distinction: Disgraced, twice-impeached, twice loser of the popular vote Donald J. Trump announced that if he is re-elected president in 2024 (insert puking noises here), Trump would name Larry Arnn the Secretary of Education. This is something he almost did in 2017 before choosing the worst of all options: AmWay billionaire-ess Betsy DeVos, who - how do I put it gently - SUCKED.
So pay attention - all of you - because fringe ideas like turning public education into Judeo-Christian Right Wing Re-education Camps is being embraced well beyond fringe Randian thinktanks and cuckoo-bananas autocrat-factories like Hillsdale College. And these ideas are the GOP’s educational agenda. They’re not even hiding it. And they’re doing it while publicly shitting all over Public School Teachers.
So don’t sleep on these people. Find out what Larry’s up to. Find out who supports him in your area, and whether they have access to power. Find out and do something about it before it’s way, way, way too late.
(p.s. Want more evidence of this crazy Hillsdale cult? Read this article on it’s former President George Roche III. He had an 19-year affair with his son’s wife before she killed herself. Improve the heart my ass.)