Education Forensics: English Class Room 108 Podcast

This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit educationforensics.substack.com/subscribe

I did a Substack Live the other day. I’ve turned it into a podcast and will add two highlight video clips. Naturally, I’m talking about AI and directing our attention to what parents, teachers, mentors, coaches, and consultants will have to manage in schools going forward.I get asked how summer school is going. It is quiet. I was wary about working during the summer because summer of 2021 was a total mess. This is different. The students sit and stare at the phone screen, and if I let them do that for over an hour they’ll gladly comply. When I use SchoolAI, the device addled student mostly enjoys it. They can work on the phone, keep to themselves, and work as they see fit. I don’t know how much they learn. In the podcast I try to talk about the “regular student” as someone to reach. Also, the horse is out of the barn. There’s no going back, so complaining about lazy students cheating using AI is legitimate and a real concern, but grows tiring. What can we do? There are early adopters out even as I write this.AI for the regular student:The genie is out of the bottle: This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit educationforensics.substack.com/subscribe

You know it’s bad when the young, eager teachers who want to “make a difference” bail from the profession. There are a few reasons for this, and lately many of these young people have gone on TikTok and other social media venues to explain what is going on. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit educationforensics.substack.com/subscribe

The Usual Suspects are getting the regular people bickering again. This time, it's about tariffs. I was accused of "being emotional" about tariffs. Well, they were right. I am emotional about tariffs - in the sense that I'm giddy and thrilled about them. Can't get enough. Here, I explain why, and show everyone how we talk about these things in MVHS Room 108. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit educationforensics.substack.com/subscribe

The Scott Bessent interview:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zLnX1SQfgJI This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit educationforensics.substack.com/subscribe

Here is the PDF used at the University level about "Green" Tesla and how cool and nice it is:Center for Ethical Organizational Cultureshttps://harbert.auburn.edu/binaries/documents/center-for-ethical-organizational-cultures/cases/tesla.pdf This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit educationforensics.substack.com/subscribe

Swiss Policy Research facts page:https://swprs.org/covid19-facts/ This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit educationforensics.substack.com/subscribe

Ms. Williams, MVHS guidance counselor, puts on Career Day every year. Regular people in the workforce come in and talk to our students.My 12th grade SUPA class had the pleasure of meeting a robotics engineer from Amazon. Nia came in and proceeded to explain how the high school to college to Master’s Degree can work. Choosing a field of study, changing course when necessary, and working hard can work. Our students get told all sorts of nonsense about how the system is rigged because of (fill in the blank trendy -ism buzzword).Nia not only demolished that destructive philosophy, she was also living proof how how a great attitude, perseverance, solid parenting, and work can lead to a life of abundance. Remember, “work” is the only 4 letter word we are NOT allowed to use these days.In the podcast I talked about Praxis, the internship / work program that has recently gone through some changes. It is one of the most important links in my eBook “16 Ways to Jumpstart Your Disaffected Teen”.Our Career Day visitor reminded us that the entrepreneurial, no college way is only ONE way to do it. There are many paths to take, including the classic way via High School and College.Below is the transcript for today’s podcast - a Career Day Master Class:We had a visitor come in on career day and it was a very interesting session because Nia came in to visit our class, 12th graders, and she is a robotics engineer with Amazon. And so she was talking and came right out, oh, out of the seat, and was intellectually honest the entire time because she stated early that she knows that Amazon's been in the news with some negative news recently and she said it's really not all that bad. And that was the end of the issue right there.That was the complete handling of the subject and no one said anything. And she continued on with a wonderful presentation about her robotics engineering career. And I bring this up because I was also listening to a podcast by Tom Woods, I'll link to it, about Praxis.Praxis just got bought by Libertas Institute and it's a perfect fit and they're going to handle the idea of Praxis. Now Praxis is in the 16 Ways to Redirect and Jumpstart Your Phone Addicted Disaffected Teenager bundle. Praxis is one of the main parts of that ebook because Praxis does something very unique.It takes students who know that they would be wasting money on college, they don't really know what they want to do, and Praxis takes them and sets them up with a pretty intense internship slash job program. So a Praxis person goes into Praxis, starts working right away, and they vet the person and they match the candidate with the company and they start working right away. And what happens is the monetary and financial delta is off the charts because, conservatively, a student going to college would incur between 10 and 20 grand a year in debt.Oftentimes it's more, but let's be conservative. That's 40 to 80 grand a year in debt. So the college student finishes with 40 to 80 thousand dollars in debt.Meanwhile the Praxis student, and I'm being conservative here, is going to be making 50 grand a year. And so over four years that's 200 grand money in and they don't have the 40 to 80 grand, let's say 40 grand, money out or owed in college debt, which you cannot expunge but with intense circumstances. Just don't get rid of your college debt.So that's a 240,000, that's a quarter million dollar financial swing and Praxis caters to the students and families who are plugged into that ethos. Which is why I included it in my monumental and world-shaking 16 ways bundle. Nia came in and gave a master class in if you're going to go to college, go to the right college, go into the right field of study and match up with the best possible employer.And when that works, and there are certain fields where college is a requirement, it can work out very well. People often get hyped on this work for yourself, be an entrepreneur, don't have a boss, sit on the deck chair by the pool on your laptop and make money. Yeah okay, right.If it were that easy, millions more people would do it. I know millions of people try it, but it's tough. We run a small daycare and my wife and I, and it's really difficult to make money.Making money is hard and demands a lot of time and we have not hit it big yet. So I'll just leave that there because the flip side of the be an entrepreneur, be your own boss, is if it doesn't work what are you going to do? Where's your income coming from? Nia comes in and she's a robotics engineer at Amazon and she walked the class through her schooling journey and she went to public high school in Mount Vernon at Thornton High School and then went to two universities. One for bachelor's degree and then another master's degree and then she was looking at architecture slash engineering from the beginning.So she not only went to university, she had an idea of what to do and guess what? She's in the STEM field where a university degree is baked into the cake. One cannot become an engineer or architect in the United States without the requirements of degrees and licenses. The correctness of that is another conversation, but that's the game that we are in and oftentimes it is a plus because people study carefully.They come out of those programs qualified and the buildings don't fall down and bridge cables don't snap. So she got the degrees and she went into architecture originally and was not into it. She said it did not work for her.She was not happy there so she slid over to engineering and she went on the electrical slash coding path where she got into the connection of those types of engineering for robots and she liked it. Turns out she was good at it. So she went all the way and got the master's degree and got a job right out of college and she was extremely blunt and refreshingly honest because she said, Nia is a black woman, late 20s, and she came out and said “I know I'm not a DEI hire because I have the skill.I have the receipts. I can do what is necessary and I have the background to prove it”. And the results over the years now more than prove that she's a capable, viable, quality employee at Amazon working on robots that work in the warehouses that get the material for all the deliveries from the various Amazon warehouses. And that's the kind of refreshing honesty that we often don't get in the schooling world where we get kind of political jargon.We get people who are not skilled in what they teach. We get people who read the news, the corporate news, and they take those things they read and they push them onto impressionable teenagers and that's just a recipe for failure. So Nia did the opposite of that.She's in the field working as we speak, making money, and getting things done. And she took the college path which it's interesting for me to talk about because I don't usually talk about the university path because people are forced to take classes like “intersectionalism and the Inca faiths and the connection to today's transgender community”. And I say things like that not because I'm trying to be funny, although I hope you laugh, but I say that because you can learn about those topics for free.You don't need to learn about how racism has caused inequities in history. You don't need to pay for that. You can learn those things for free.And there's a lot of interesting history out there. Most of it isn't done these days at the universities. You have ossified, dried-out ferrets teaching you stuff that they learned in the 70s and the 80s and they're preaching their political foolishness and their outdated historical stuff to teenagers.And you are paying for that and that's not ever what I advocate for. In Nia's case, she went into the university with a plan in a field that requires it and effectively taught me and the seniors in the class, she didn't word it this way, but that we are going back to the old ways of education. And in the old ways you had your lawyers and your doctors and your engineers going through specialized schooling for those fields.And it makes sense. However, if you were going into other fields, you don't need that special schooling because nobody cares. What do I mean by that? Many of the adults in your life, you'd be shocked at what their degrees are in versus what they do for a living.You also might be surprised to hear that nobody, myself included, has ever asked me, where did I go to college? What did I major in? And what was my GPA? Not only that, you hear about a lot of today's top-level movers and shakers. I know nobody likes Elon Musk now. They did five years ago when he was a ESG green energy electric car god in the progressive, liberal, predominantly white corporate press.They loved Elon Musk. Well, now that he's staying up there at the top of the pyramid, they don't like him. So anyway, so you can gauge the principles of your friend on vapid and intellectually bereft slave book.You can do that on your own. You don't need me to walk you through how to do that. But somebody like Musk, do you know what his degree is in? Does he even have one? How about the people who have founded all the major fast-food chains? None of them have college degrees.Or Hollywood is the test case. Nobody in Hollywood has a college diploma. And the line goes on and on and on, particularly in IT.And here's another thing that Nia mentioned to us that was extremely valuable. I asked her two questions. I said, should our students be intimidated by the math that is necessary for an engineering degree? And she said no.She said she thought about it and you know she had the same reservations that a lot of students have about mathematics. But she said no, it worked out. You know, you put in the time and have confidence and faith in yourself and you can get through it.And then I asked her if, because she talked about coding, if you were to study and master one coding language first, which one would it be? And her answer was pretty quick. She said Python. Now I know Python is a coding language.I know it's popular. But now we had an electrical coding engineer from Amazon, robotics division, telling us that Python is the way to go. There are other programming languages that she mentioned, but they're older and more anachronistic.So Python is a necessary and probably the best language to study if you're into coding. Which leads me to my last point, which is you can learn Python starting today. You know, people think I'm always tooting my own horn, which I am.And my favorite subject is myself, which it is. And in 16 ways, the places to learn coding are in that book. This is stuff that's been out for years and years and years.If you have a precocious or even just interested teenager in coding, you can learn coding for free or a very, very low price. You don't need to go to a university campus major in computer science to learn coding. You can do those things, but you can hit the ground running at worst with a solid base in coding.But here's the thing about the IT world. Those college degrees aren't really that valuable when it comes to working in that world. It's a mixed bag.Some places don't even ask for it. They want you to be a coding wizard and do the coding that's required in the languages that they use, and then you start working as a coder. So this is the thing where Nia's presentation really opened up a lot of eyes and it put a lot of sunlight onto what the world is like for somebody in the United States in their late 20s talking about the world in which we live and the society in which we reside.This is the balancing act that's necessary for all of us. What is the value of a university education? What are the majors that are necessary and the job markets that you reach when you're done? What are they like? And how do you go about it? And her example was, and I'll say it again, a master class in how to do it right. And one of the things that I and my colleagues try to do is say, here are successful real-world examples.Follow those examples to the best of your abilities and don't be afraid to put in the work. Because if you're, well, if you're watching your phone all the time looking at nonsense, you're going to get very good at that. If you're practicing viable things for the future all the time, you're going to get good at that too and you'll have much more success. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit educationforensics.substack.com/subscribe

From the Free Ross site:https://www.lawyer-monthly.com/2025/01/the-controversial-case-of-ross-ulbricht-life-sentence-regret-and-a-presidential-pardon/ This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit educationforensics.substack.com/subscribe

ICAN website:https://icandecide.org/There is a lot of talk these days about Americans losing faith in their storied and classic institutions. This is exhibit A. It’s time we re-dedicate ourselves to teaching our young people how to think, and not what to think.The TFT Store keeps growing. Here is the storefront:https://sendowl.com/hub/tft This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit educationforensics.substack.com/subscribe

NYC Mayor Adams' comments:https://www.politico.com/news/2024/12/06/new-york-eric-adams-republican-party-00192988 This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit educationforensics.substack.com/subscribe

Here is the new site - ready, but partially under construction:https://tftprofitacademy.com/ This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit educationforensics.substack.com/subscribe

Link to Daily Mail article:https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-14093445/Biden-gives-Zelensky-green-light-fire-long-range-American-missiles-Russia-time-raising-chance-UK-follow-suit-eyes-Putins-response.html This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit educationforensics.substack.com/subscribe

Don’t trust the scientists, trust the HISTORY of science. Which, by the way, very few scientists actually know.“My position on vaccines… is that vaccines should be tested, like other medicines. Of the 72 vaccine doses now mandated… for American children, none of them—not one—has ever been subject to a pre-licensing, placebo-controlled trial. Other medicines are required to do that, and we should have to do that for vaccines. If I’m wrong, show me the test. Show me the study. You won’t be able to, because there are none. That means that we don’t know what the long-term risks are.”– RFK Jr.https://voxday.net/2024/11/15/no-childhood-vaccine-is-tested/ This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit educationforensics.substack.com/subscribe

This article / podcast is also a good place to look - written in real time in 2017.https://reason.com/podcast/2017/12/26/thad-russell-education-academia-podcast/ This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit educationforensics.substack.com/subscribe

Good predictions are difficult to find. I throw my hat into the ring on this one.Two things I forgot:* The betting lines are good places to look for predicting election results. Remember, up to the DAY BEFORE the 2016 election, the polls were showing that Hillary Clinton had a 95% to 99% chance of winning the 2016 Presidential election. Everyone believed the polls. I didn’t. I called the election in September 2016, and with the exception of one older colleague who understands the world, people thought I was crazy. This election is harder to pin down, but I explain myself in the podcast. Anyway, check out the betting lines for interesting analysis and getting the wisdom of not only the crowd, but also people with skin in the game.* The gold price his helping predict this one. People are not happy with their country, inflation, the status quo, or the direction of this late stage empire. The country formerly known as These United States is on the downswing, the BRICS alliance of nations is on the rise, and all of this is reflected in the gold price. This does not bode well for the Harris campaign. I periodically write for Curtis Scoon’s site - in the Townhall section. Scoon has broken away from the mainstream and has his own site, servers, and small team running things. It’s the way of the future and you can find not only my work, but other independent voices here: https://www.scoontv.com/ This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit educationforensics.substack.com/subscribe

Pete Rose highlights:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R9VjkunHYDsDikembe Mutombo highlights - block party:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qGDZ3S5Y2MI This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit educationforensics.substack.com/subscribe

Here is the case:https://www.justice.gov/usao-sdny/pr/long-island-man-convicted-trial-participating-multimillion-dollar-cryptocurrency This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit educationforensics.substack.com/subscribe

On Tuesday Mt. Vernon HS not only placed Rai Benjamin on its Wall of Fame, it named its outdoor track after him. Rai, who graduated in 2015, was gracious enough to take a picture with me and his 4x400m teammate Cody Housen. Cody is now a member of the local police department, and he was the 3rd leg of that spectacular relay. Cody would rip a 49 second relay split indoors, 48 outdoors, and then pass the baton to Rai, who would decimate the competition. Those were good times.Here’s the NBC video of Rai winning the Olympic Gold in the 400m Hurdles. They make you watch in the youtube app or on its site. Because they have reasons:On the other hand, I have a student who is in his second year who cannot read. He admitted as much to his counselor, who is moving heaven and earth to get him in the correct placement. I asked the same question you did: How did this young man make it to second year of high school when he’s illiterate? How did he get out of middle school? The system is broken in so many ways it isn’t even funny.This was week one. It’s easy to only discuss the failure and doom. I get more hits, clicks, and downloads for those posts, but it’s not all bad. Mr. Benjamin (aptly named seeing his success these past few years) personifies what is possible when you practice and accentuate your God given gifts.We will see if we can get this other young man off of the failure track.As I work on Internet Sales and Marketing, here’s a new banner for TFT: This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit educationforensics.substack.com/subscribe

Comment and share. I'll also be keeping you guys posted about what I'm learning about internet sales, marketing, and product creation. It's much tougher than I thought. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit educationforensics.substack.com/subscribe

I’m almost done with a webcast called “The 0.1% Refugee Crisis”. It’s good. HNW (High Net Worth) individuals are leaving places like the USA, Britain, Australia, and Sweden because they’re not treated well. Their money and lifestyles are treated shabbily by governments, so they’re leaving. It’s an old saying in the world of Finance - capital will flock to where it’s treated the best. It’s true.The webcast I'm listening to:https://pracap.com/the-1-refugee-crisis-webinar/I teach some classes here - SAT and ACT:https://www.udemy.com/user/douglas-marolla/ This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit educationforensics.substack.com/subscribe

The 2024 Paris Olympic Games opening ceremonies were an abomination. Our house, without my input, was so severely turned off by them that it has severely limited our viewing. Who wants to support people who hate you? This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit educationforensics.substack.com/subscribe

Audio analysis raises troubling questions:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TF4RFPXcTlI This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit educationforensics.substack.com/subscribe

Here is the John Smoltz interview where he speaks the truth:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8wEcWcawMso This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit educationforensics.substack.com/subscribe

The Lakers drafted LeBron James' son, Bronny James. Nepotism, favoritism, power, dilution ... all are on display. This event is a lens as to why faith in 'our institutions' is imploding at an alarming rate. A father helping out his son is normal. Nepotism is not only common, but ignored in many such cases. However, because this affects not only someone possibly more deserving a spot on the LA Lakers roster, but also the competition on the court, it comes across poorly. I found the opinions of Kwame Brown, Rob Parker, and Chris Broussard noteworthy, and I have referenced them here in this video. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit educationforensics.substack.com/subscribe

The presidential debate “surprised” many, particularly the condition of Pres. Biden. The Chevron Deference decision has outraged the Donor Class, and the unthinking MSNBC/CNN masses who need their opinions fed to them. Naturally, these reactions are the things to analyze.The Chevron decision, links to the 114 page PDF:https://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/23pdf/22-451_7m58.pdf This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit educationforensics.substack.com/subscribe

The Six Lesson Schoolteacher: https://www.cantrip.org/gatto.html This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit educationforensics.substack.com/subscribe

Jaime Escalante: Master Teacher, Envious Systemhttps://www.lewrockwell.com/2010/04/gary-north/killing-the-spirit-of-learning/The Marva Collins Story:https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000WMA736Stand and Deliver RevisitedThe untold story behind the famous rise -- and shameful fall -- of Jaime Escalante, America's master math teacher.https://reason.com/2002/07/01/stand-and-deliver-revisited-2/Jaime Alfonso Escalante - Full Biography:https://mathshistory.st-andrews.ac.uk/Biographies/Escalante/ This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit educationforensics.substack.com/subscribe

There is a new phenomenon out there. We are seeing many videos of people in their 20’s, mostly women, who are angry about being financially unable to participate in what was once regular American life.They’re told that if they do things right and play by the rules, they’ll be fine.Not so fast.If you check out housing prices, inflation, property tax, city tax, state tax, federal tax, college tuition, college loan interest rates, mortgage interest rates … what is a young person supposed to do? Anyone in the NYC area, or somewhere like that is effectively blocked from being able to do what they’re TOLD they can do by ‘the system’.The messaging is worse than being mixed, it’s inverted.Young people are told to sacrifice their health in order to make money. Then they're told to sacrifice money to recuperate their health. Then, they're so anxious about the future they can't enjoy the present. Many are realizing that the 'make money' part of the equation is not only unattainable, but spiritually bereft. No wonder young people are upset. Not everyone is an imbecile.You can thank the Federal Reserve Bank of the United States, and the so called leaders of what was once a bastion of freedom and opportunity for the situation.As usual, young people are being told to blame anyone and everyone else for this. At some point, something is going to break. I don’t think it pays to be oblivious to the financial plight of our young people. Watch the gap: the wealth gap. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit educationforensics.substack.com/subscribe

“Do what you love”.This is the worst advice you could give to a young person. “You can change the world”. No you can’t. Perhaps we should work on grammar and knowing at what temperature water freezes first.Our young people need good, solid, valuable instruction. They don’t need useless, pointless, and misguided (even dangerous) sayings to cloud their minds.Here are some of the latest ‘passionate’ sayings around the building. The Black History Month are putting the cart before the horse, as many of the figures are unknown. Additionally, they feed into the eternal victimology narrative that warps young people’s futures. Teach first, and teach well. Then, maybe, inundate young people with this kind of rhetoric: This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit educationforensics.substack.com/subscribe

The discussion today is about how the fad of the day will always come first. Then, sometime later, the things that matter come to the fore. Mentioned in this podcast:Here is Dean Russell telling the NEA that the rabble (that’s you) simply cannot learn the stuff that the top of the pyramid learn. The book is Schooled to Order: A Social History of Public Schooling in the United StatesBy David Nasaw:Here is the an explanation from John Taylor Gatto, then the actual text from the Rockefeller Foundation’ General Educational Board’s Occasional Letter #1:From Gatto’s magisterial “The Underground History of American Education: Occasional Letter Number One Between 1896 and 1920, a small group of industrialists and financiers, together with their private charitable foundations, subsidized university chairs, university researchers, and school administrators, spent more money on forced schooling than the government itself did. Carnegie and Rockefeller, as late as 1915, were spending more themselves. In this laissez-faire fashion a system of modern schooling was constructed without public participation. The motives for this are undoubtedly mixed, but it will be useful for you to hear a few excerpts from the first mission statement of Rockefeller’s General Education Board as they occur in a document called Occasional Letter Number One (1906): “In our dreams...people yield themselves with perfect docility to our molding hands. The present educational conventions [intellectual and character education] fade from our minds, and unhampered by tradition we work our own good will upon a grateful and responsive folk. We shall not try to make these people or any of their children into philosophers or men of learning or men of science. We have not to raise up from among them authors, educators, poets or men of letters. We shall not search for embryo great artists, painters, musicians, nor lawyers, doctors, preachers, politicians, statesmen, of whom we have ample supply. The task we set before ourselves is very simple...we will organize children...and teach them to do in a perfect way the things their fathers and mothers are doing in an imperfect way.”Please re-read those statements a few times. As someone who has been in the school business for 27 years, nothing has changed. As a matter of fact, It’s gotten worse as instead of watered down education, we shove frivolous topics and concepts into our students’ heads. Here is reality catching up with everyone, summed up in one picture. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit educationforensics.substack.com/subscribe

This is the kind of message I bring to teenagers. They (we) get taught, trained, if you will, to obsess about things out of our control. World events are put on our doorstep and you’re not only told what to think about them, you’re told to argue with your friend about it on FakeBook. This is nonsense.Keeping things under control means having discipline with yourself, your thoughts, and your device. As today’s Nonsense World comes at us at a faster, more ridiculous pace than ever, it’s vital that we remember what and who is important. The old lessons that your grandparents taught you should hold more meaning now than they ever did.Happy Easter everyone.As a side note, Nonsense World TV (The BBC) came to Guyana to speak with the President. Remember, Britain built its empire on slavery, opium, and coal. The interviewer took a shot at trying to shame the Guyanese president because carbon.The British Empire was called the Empire upon which the sun never set. This BBC stooge sees to it that everyone knows that the British empire is now the empire upon which the sun never rises.Clown World takes the L: This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit educationforensics.substack.com/subscribe

It’s “Persuasive Presentation” time of the year for the 12th graders. My SUPA class has woken up!We were discussing controversial topics, running down the list of things that are traditionally on the docket. The discussion was, as it has been over the years, wonderful, as these students haven’t been poisoned by corporate media. Their b******t-ometers aren’t broken. We discussed things that would get you canceled, maligned, called names, pilloried, or otherwise slapped around by your MSNBC watching friends on Fakebook.A bit of a heads up: this is how things go in MVHS Room 108. If you’re looking for any organization’s or person’s standard party line … it isn’t here.Helpful information:When you’re coming into the United States, here are the rules you have to follow.Rules for YOU: This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit educationforensics.substack.com/subscribe

When I recorded this a few days ago, Bitcoin (BTC) had hit an all time high of $73K per bitcoin. It’s hovering in the high $60K’s for the time being. One thing to keep in mind - Bitcoin is not Crypto. As the West’s, particularly the USA and Canada’s finances get manipulated and bastardized by the twisted oddballs who run the place, regular people will always search for a safe haven. I know I do.If interest on America’s debt comes in at a staggering $1T every 100 days, even the most limited among us has to ask: “how, or who, is going to pay that amount?”I don’t know either. In the olden days the answer was: YOU. Now, the numbers are so big it’s inconceivable that taxpayers could pay such a large amount. Something is going to break.The question is: where is your capital stored? People like to preserve their holdings. That’s where I see some of this price action coming from. Gold is also at an all time high. BTC, as I mentioned, cracked its all time high. Residential real estate, despite high interest rates, is still going strong.There is a rush to safety. We are seeing the effects in real time. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit educationforensics.substack.com/subscribe

Not too long after Sports Illustrated got busted for using AI to write crappy, woke sports articles, then went bust, Vice Media went down - badly:Am I celebrating hundreds of people losing their jobs?Yes.Why would I do something so unfeeling, so terrible, so awful and crass? Because the people at Vice were some of the people to tell the blue collar workers and coal miners in Appalachia and other areas, that they should “learn to code”. And then they were laughing about it on Twitter. Their crime? many of those people in the Rust Belt, after voting for Obama (they recognized that the globalist W Bush sold them out), they voted for Trump, thinking he would stop the economic bleeding.Having a take like that requires nuance and being non-partisan. Vice was none of those things. They were dancing on the employment graves of union member blue collar democrats who were trying to get a political solution to the hollowing out of their industries. These were people in the Oil, Gas, Coal, and rare earth elements / mining industries. Now the USA produces more Nat Gas and Oil than ever before - around 12 million barrels a day - and Vice is gone.In this podcast, I go into a more mellow and methodical look at what happened to Vice, and to some degree, Sports Illustrated.Thank you all for subscribing. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit educationforensics.substack.com/subscribe

Serendipity is one of those wonderful, uncontrollable things.We were out at a local place here in the Bronx, and I met a youth football coach. He went into great detail about how young people today are more difficult to coach. Instead of the incessant complaining about ‘today’s kids’, he explained his approach to teaching and coaching.“You can only be what you can see”.His coaching style has adjusted over time. Instead of griping … “I coached and explained, and they didn’t learn” … he has adjusted his style. Student athletic / football success is his currency, and he needed results. He needs wins. What he did was make sure, through altering his style and coaching manner, that the athletes were able to ‘see’ success in small, incremental steps. His ability to adjust to the situation he was in, rather than wish that the situation was that of yesteryear, was refreshing.In the podcast I go into the details behind our conversation, what our students ‘see’ in school. The self-imposed limits on what we expose our students to, as well as the narrow focus of the oppressive Testing Industrial Complex, all play in a role in intellectually hamstringing our students. We show our students trauma and oppression in their classes. Do we show / teach anything else? What are they seeing after 7 hours in schule?At the end I explain the twisted and broken world of my new friend’s wife: she’s the admissions director for one of the top test-in public schools in NYC. What parents of all races say to her when their child doesn’t get accepted might surprise you. It’s very disappointing what they’ve done to the American Parent’s mind.Thank you to all the subscribers, free and paid. The readership keeps growing, and I’m thankful you understand the rough truth that we peddle here in MVHS Room 108. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit educationforensics.substack.com/subscribe

When someone says to you something ‘doesn’t work’ or ‘this is the best way’, ask them why. People often repeat what they’ve heard or read in Corporate Media. In this podcast I discuss a student who showed up late to my class, in early November, and has re-entered the System. It’s a unique story.Mt. Vernon HS Room 108 - February 2024 TOUR:Here is a short video and some pictures of how the room looks. The many former students will recognize much of the decor. Some of you might even see your picture on the wall! This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit educationforensics.substack.com/subscribe

In “Year 2, on the 9th of Thermidor”, things fell apart for the Revolutionary Elite (notice how they called themselves ‘The committee of Public Safety’, and rewrote the time and the entire calendar).They always tell you that they’re going to ‘keep you safe’. It’s possible we have a shift of these proportions in the wings:Nesta Webster’s book is one of the few that goes into the grisly details, and the Secret Societies that spearheaded the Revolution. Naturally, the end result was that they would be in power. Funny how it always works out that way….Gary North said it best about Webster’s book:“This book is never mentioned in university history departments. This is because it is accurate.This book was published in 1919. It was well received. A young Henry Cabot Lodge wrote a favorable review of it. The book reveals the Illuminist and masonic background of the revolution. These topics have been politically incorrect since the end of World war II.”The “Migrant Crisis” seems to be made out of the same cloth. Regular people are thinking very different things than they were are recently as two years ago. A progressive liberal colleague mentioned … wait for it … voting for Trump in November.I’m not kidding. I talk about that and a few other examples in the podcast. The main focus of the podcast is that you can’t manage this “migrant crisis” in this manner without expecting some kind of backlash. Remember, as I’ve mentioned in class: “The path from abundance to starvation is riot.” This is the latest:I don’t know about you, but juxtaposing this with my daughter’s school activities getting curtailed, along with the Public Library hours getting cut, getting felt up and my stuff stolen by the TSA … this won’t end well. I discuss this in the podcast.Thank you all for subscribing. I appreciate it. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit educationforensics.substack.com/subscribe

This podcast was spurred by a discussion / lesson with the 12th graders in my SUPA Public Speaking class. The topics we’re taught, the way we’re taught, what we’re told is important - many of these are “Narratives” that shape the way we think. People are persuaded by easily digestible stories. When someone goes against, or refutes the Narrative / Story, oftentimes people get dum tite.You see what I did there.The Inversion is when what we’re told by the Top of the Pyramid, usually via the Corporate Media, is the opposite of what is true. They invert the reality of our world in order to benefit themselves. Odd that people seem to think that a group of people would work together to benefit their lives, or power, or bottom line. Why do you think you’ve been trained, as one would train a seal, that ‘Conspiracies!’ could never happen?These are some of the things discussed in the attached podcast.Below is the SUPA lesson that got this going, and dominates the second half of what I discuss in this post’s podcast.Persuasive: Tom Woods argues the Reasons FOR Child LaborStarting about 0:25 in the video, Tom Woods, historian, argues the reasons why child labor existed.  While he is obviously, as a father of 5, against forcing children to work, he argues that the reasons children have had to work in the past are legitimate.  He also argues that passing laws against child labor in poor countries is the wrong thing to do.* What approach(es) does he use to argue this type of topic? Think about Logos (facts), Ethos (presenter credibility), and Pathos (emotion).* Does he come up with things that made you think twice about Child Labor - or not? Explain clearly please.* Analyze his tone, speech patterns, body language, and word choice.  If you were rating this, what type of grade would you give and why? This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit educationforensics.substack.com/subscribe

I came across this quote while reading Dave Collum’s year end letter:Despite the opening semi-rant at the beginning of the podcasts, the quote spurred some things that I routinely share at MVHS. Many of you on the list will remember.Here is room 108 at MVHS as I left it on Dec. 22nd:This came across my Xitter feed. My original account is still permabanned, but I saw this on my new one:Merry Christmas everyone. I am grateful for everything. My wife and girls put this table together: This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit educationforensics.substack.com/subscribe

It’s easy to see that there are some explosive and divisive events going on in not only the world, but the USA. How do I talk about these things? In this podcast I speak in the way I speak to students, and take a look at current day shenanigans.There were some issues with the transcription, so I will put the print version of the transcript below:“Hello everyone, this week in Schule, brought to you as usual by MVHS Room Education Forensics.  Welcome everybody just doing one podcast here this weekend and gonna continue the conversation we've all been having, some of you actually in face-to-face in terms of who's on the email list and who I know personally.  Turns out, a little bit of a side note, the parent liaison at the school, the new one, is a former student of mine.  Was in English class, not in room 108, back then it was room 246. and that was 2010.  So that made me feel old but satisfied because she's a competent young woman, has a three-year-old, and is tasked with dialing up and turning up the intensity on parents in terms of being involved. making them come in and have incentives to come in and realize the benefits, you know, and so they sure did pick somebody capable in that role.   So, and I, of course, I'd like to grab all the credit because I mean honestly Who else than to take the credit for somebody's success in life other than ninth grade English teacher, right?   That's the way I see it.   But anyway, continuing what we've been talking about in terms of what's beneficial for young people in the world that they live in, this week in schule is here to tell you … I'm here to explain to you, kind of what I'm seeing and what's happening.We did a short story called “To Build a Fire”, which many of you remember, and the main character is done in by pride, mostly. The guy is strong, smart, knows how to handle rough living in the Yukon, but he doesn't listen to the Old Man that he had spoken to a couple of days before who said, “you really shouldn't travel in the Yukon if it's 50 below zero by yourself”.  Actually, you shouldn't travel at all.  But if you have to, you need to bring somebody. At first everything is going okay, and the guy is even laughing at the old man's words.  Then a minor thing goes wrong, and of course, there's no room for error when it's 50 below zero let alone 75 below zero, and the guy winds up freezing to death.  And as I tell a lot of young people that kind of idea, that kind of arrogance, that kind of pride will do you in, especially in today's world. Students sometimes ask “well what do you mean?  Because back then we only had a TV in the classroom.  We had a chalkboard.  Now, I know how this sounds, right?  Like this is the old man talking, hey, get off my lawn.  I get it.  But this wasn't that long ago.  This was the 2011 school year.  We had a chalkboard.  I had a computer in the corner where every once in a while, I would ask everyone to be silent so we could turn your head and look at the CRT monitor computer and listen to a short video on that screen, no lie.If I wanted to do anything feature-length, I had to have the DVD VHS combo player sit on top of a bunch of schoolbooks.  But my point is that sometimes, not as often as it should be, and this is where opportunity comes in; students will ask me, what do I mean by how different things are now and how the differences between years ago to now?  That list of differences has grown exponentially.   And I also use the word ‘clown world’ a lot.   I use that here in this week in schule.   I use it in my write-ups about finance and stocks.   I use it in terms of earning potential and employment: everything, like, because we are kind of in clown world! And I bring up a couple of things that are not necessarily within our control.  And by what, I mean is my control or students’ control, right?   It's not like I have some kind of special dispensation and can control these things.  And in the United States, I let students know two things, two or three things that really make it so that the awareness of these things can help you navigate. What I mean is: The direction of dollars from Your Federal Government. And we are in a country where it is seen as acceptable, and not only Acceptable, But Necessary to Spend Billions Upon Billions of Dollars In A Conflict On The Ukraine-Russian Border, Billions And Billions Of Dollars.   Now, I don't know about you, but I'm sitting in the Bronx and the road in front of me about 10 feet away from me to the right, is a pretty good-sized hole in the street.   Okay, that's not the federal government's problem, but all right.   Is it possible that instead of the billion dollars that went to Ukraine last year or whatever, the number is, one-tenth of that could go to a large city for road repair?   I mean, are these really weird ideas?   Is this out of the realm of possibility?  And forget the pothole in the road.   We have a federal Department of Education.   How about instead of well, I don't really know, what the Federal Department of Education does, but and it probably gets too much money, so maybe skip the Federal Department of Education and have federal monies flow into local schools and not give it to any person.   See to it that those dollars go toward rigorous merit-based educational programs and make it impossible for them to be shut off.   What I mean is, sometimes these programs attract only the families and the parents and the children who are academically inclined and want to work hard.  And you know, the grievance industry doesn't like that. So, there's money to be made in the grievance industry.  So, you got to somehow send the money in if again, I'm just thinking off the top of my head where the people who want to end a merit-based program, like the specialized high schools, like Talented and Gifted.  Those people have no way to do that.  You know, this is just thinking out loud.  Or, and I tell students this as well, so, right, so money can go to the quote-unquote fight for Ukraine.  Whatever. The other thing is now money goes to billions upon billions to a conflict in the Middle East between Israel and the Palestinians in the Gaza Strip.  I mean how much money needs to go to that?  How about redirect it towards the high-speed rail line that was supposed to connect Washington DC to Boston with all those cities in the middle? It doesn't exist.  I don't know.  I mean, this is just one of these things where this is the country that young people are in and as soon as they realize it, it makes navigating easier because too many students are raised in an environment where they think, okay, the government is going to fix it, or whatever issue comes up, the government's going to take care of it.  And I talk, I mentioned things and the students who are currently juniors, when they were freshmen, man, that was a crazy year.  But I've mentioned this group of guys before and it was weird because, you know, a lot of the intelligent, capable, question-asking, intellectually curious people in class are often the young women.  But in this case, I had a bunch of dudes who were really like, they were pressing me hard on my beliefs.  And so, I told them that it was kind of a dangerous world they're in because you had two events in the national, international arena that were troublesome.  One was During the Donald Trump administration.  He had said “no, we are not going to do Continued military exercises in various parts of the Middle East”, and he's the commander-in-chief and the Joint Chiefs ignored him!Now I want you to think about that because I know what you were taught. I know orange man bad racist all kinds of stuff, right? I know what the corporate press told you and I mean, I don't know, the TDS people, as I've mentioned before, are unreachable.  So, if you've got it, if you have an affliction like that, then and you're getting triggered just bail.   I don’t know. Neither I nor other like-minded people really have time for you, but that's repellent. The commander-in-chief says we want I want to do things more peacefully and cut off and a lot of this military action.  We don't need it.   It's not affordable.   It doesn't make sense.  And the Joint Chiefs of Staff ignored him.   They just they just didn't do it.   That is telling.   It's also criminal and people should have been court-martialed for that and it didn't happen.   And naturally you didn't hear much about it in the press because again, Trump, Orange Man Bad, Right, all the other stuff, Drumpf, whatever.   This is the other part that the thinking students really started to realize, and one young man named Will, I don't know if he hears this.  They were like, oh, wow, it's really easy to manipulate people's thoughts.   I said, yes, and you're watching it in real time.  And the other one, the other event, the other thing I talk about, and it's escaped a lot of the news cycle, was the banning of Huawei phones by the Chinese. Because the Chinese are now the new boogeyman and where are the dollars going to go?  They're ginning everybody up for a winding down of the completely pointless and lost Ukrainian foolishness.  How much blood and money and treasure and land and lives were destroyed on this uselessness?  I don't know.  The numbers are horrible.  And for what?  And now they're slowly, you know, doing the rollout for China. Now China is a mega power and it's not going to be a Ukraine thing, right?  It's a different story.  But the banning of the Huawei phone was a big one because Huawei is a company where the technology was amazing and, it's almost as if a conspiratorial minded person would think, let me say it this way, that the federal government didn't want regular people to have the things available in the Huawei phone that they could do.   I don't know how else to say it because they were really, really, intense. Joe Rogan got into trouble by talking up Huawei phones.   He's like, “man, these things are incredible!”  And he was talking about how amazing they were - and they were blocked.  This is all before Trump came in.   This was years and years ago, but it was an amazing bit of   brinksmanship and trade blocking, especially from people who keep yelling at us that free trade is the answer, which it isn't, of course.   Free trade is a horrible thing.   NAFTA, GATT, right, all these free trade agreements, all they do is take American industry and they sent it to Mexico at first and then it wound up being in China and now we're in the predicament we're in, which is a complete disaster.  So, the people who tell us that free trade is the most amazing thing ever, and you shouldn't be an isolationist, and why are you one of those disgusting nationalists?   You know, you're terrible.   Now all of a sudden, they, well years ago, somewhat quietly blocked the infiltration of Huawei phones.   You got to wonder why.   You know what I mean?  Like if you're going to talk to me about free trade and how it's the answer to everything and an open border as well, right?  This is human capital.   Bring in the human capital.   Gut the industry.   Bring in human capital from Central and South America, not from anywhere else, of course.  And this is the recipe for success.   It makes no sense.   And this is the world that our teenagers are, well, let me rephrase:  This is the country that our teenagers are growing up in.  Who is helping them navigate that? Right?  This is the way that we talk. This is how we talk in Room 108.  Which is why I say what I say.  If this is a problem for you as an adult listening to this, why are the 9th graders and the 15-year-olds in 108 able to handle it?  Why can't you?  And if they're, you know, this is how we do it.  Let me rephrase: people are used to being told what to think from Fox News or MSNBC or Rachel Maddow or you know CNN?  you know there are people out there who you know if Sean Hannity says it or Wolf Blitzer says it then it's then it just is I don't understand these people but okay, whatever.  But the China thing is interesting and young people need to understand that for a long-time people laughed at the Far East, particularly China, because you know, they made underwear, and they made cheap trinkets, and we outsourced that labor and that manufacturing to there and it was actually cheaper to have it made there and shipped over.  You should know that China now doesn't just make that stuff. They're now, they have a trade surplus, and you know why? And I'm going to leave you with this.  China is now making cars and selling them by the truckload, boatload, you know, shipping tanker load to other parts of the world.  They make an $11,000 electric vehicle.  They make small internal combustion engine cars.  They make a ton of cars and they're selling them and they're not expensive.  And guess what?  They're not expensive for some good reasons and not expensive for some bad reasons, right?  China is not friendly to their environment.  They don't have the OSHA regulations, all the stuff that we have here.  So they can sell a $11,000 electric car.  Their version of environmental stuff is, you know, the wastewater goes from the pipe into the river.  Hopefully they figure that out.  And not only that China sells heavy industry. in the old days okay, China would buy heavy industry from Caterpillar and these other huge monster …  John Deere …  companies for their heavy equipment. Now they make it themselves and they use it themselves and they sell it to others.   None of this   is mentioned as talked about to American teenagers at least in mind.   All right, at least the teenagers that I speak with that I work with it's just not on the radar and that's a crying shame because what this does is it limits opportunity for high schoolers.   If you are mechanically inclined or like technology or want to work with stuff you want to build here in the United States, because we've gutted our industry and our intellectual capital, because everybody's worried that the temperature is going to go up 1.5 degrees.  (That was, actually that was a big truck, right?)   It's going to go up 1.5 degrees.   The temperature of the world is going to go up 1.5 degrees by 2050 and we're supposed to cry and scream and yell about that?   Then so okay and now what?   What's step two?   We're supposed to discuss these things and yell about them on social media.   Well, how much money does that put into your pocket?   Answer: none.  So, you know, dealing with issues, competency, the world we're in, being realistic, all these things play a huge role.   And so, this week in school and other weeks and the upcoming weeks these are the kinds of thing I try to inject into the English curriculum as best as I can.  So, if you're listening to this and you can, you know, try to talk real talk with a younger person, you'll find you'll be popular, right?   They like hearing this kind of stuff.  No two ways about it.  All right?  So, let's talk next week.  It's been great.   Talk to you soon.” This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit educationforensics.substack.com/subscribe

The current Narrative is that AI is the most amazing thing ever. It will solve problems, fix what’s broken, and be the answer to all of our social and economic problems.That’s one Narrative anyway. The other Narrative is that it will bring about a horrific dystopia, with the Terminator movie franchise resembling Mr. Rogers Neighborhood compared to what’s actually in store.I don’t see either of those as options. It isn’t because I recognize the fallacious Hobson’s Choice. It’s for various other reasons, mainly that AI can only look backward. For this reason, it will eventually reach back and recycle already recycled AI material - lacking the human element / soul. It is this wonderful spark of humanity that will, perhaps already is, be the most valuable thing there is.I got cut off in mid sentence, hence there is Part I and Part II.Part II is here: This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit educationforensics.substack.com/subscribe

This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit educationforensics.substack.com/subscribe

The Uniparty Industrial Complex got FOX News to turf Tucker Carlson. Why in the world would the network’s biggest draw get the axe?In this podcast we cover some of the issues around the firing, the narrative, as well as some of the more plausible reasons.The book I was trying to remember later in the podcast is “Tragedy and Hope”, by Carroll Quigley. Prof. Quigley was an insider, and he spilled the beans about the Uniparty over 50 years ago. They suppressed his book. He was Bill Clinton’s teacher at Georgetown. Look up the good parts of the book. The idea was to control the two parties, and give the American people ‘the illusion of choice’. They’ve largely succeeded. In this episode I posit that it was the Uniparty that had Carlson canned. I think I’m right.Don’t forget we’re going to Spain in July! This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit educationforensics.substack.com/subscribe

Reminder: we have a trip to Spain scheduled for early July. See more here: This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit educationforensics.substack.com/subscribe

This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit educationforensics.substack.com/subscribe

“The Bet” – Anton Chekhov - - followed by “The Shawshank Redemption”“The Bet” – Audiobook:Learning target: How do Anton Chekhov and other writers begin short stories?Do Now: Introduction to “The Bet.” * Here’s the deal – in order to get $35 million, you must spend 15 YEARS inside a semi comfortable cell, with all of your basic needs taken care of. You get the internet (a laptop with no camera), books, food, TV and music.  You DO NOT get any visitors allowed whatsoever.Could you do it? Would you do it? Explain your reasons. Answer on your index card please.Notes:·         “The Bet” begins with a debate / argument on capital punishment / the death penalty.·         Author: Anton Chekhov 1860 – 1904·         The bet is between a banker and a lawyer·         The young, brash lawyer takes the banker’s bet.·         The banker is wealthy and arrogant at the time of the bet.·         The banker has come through tough times, lost a lot of his fortune at the beginning of the story, which takes place 15 years after the bet was made.“The Bet” http://www.eastoftheweb.com/short-stories/UBooks/Bet.shtml This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit educationforensics.substack.com/subscribe