When I was a college professor in China, I used to ask the
students at what age they should stop learning.
The correct answer was always “88”.
In a way, that answer explains why I still work as a substitute
teacher on basically a full-time basis.
Most of the time, there is little to do in the classroom after
I take attendance and briefly discussing the assignment of the day.
Occasionally, I’ll get a class that is a little rowdy, but that is actually
pretty rate.
All but one of the schools that I go to provide with either a
laptop or a desktop, which I use to take attendance. Having access to those tools
allows to finish the papers I had not finished before going in, or to do
research on topic that I want to do further research on.
After that, I have plenty of time to read books.
Beyond the fact that I remind the classes of the lesson for
the day, I frequently teach them something beyond the lesson plan. Many times,
I wound up learning something myself. Since I am already 76, it looks like I
need to continue learning for another 12 years or so.
Yesterday, I monitored an ELL (English learner class). The
assignment for the day was to read portions of a book titled “La Linea”, by Ann
Jaramillo. It describes the struggles of a young Mexican boy and his sister who
are trying to join their parents in
California, nearly 7 years after they were left alone in Mexico.
It’s a fairly short book, so I put a reserve on it at the local
highway.
It reminded me of “The Devil’s Highway”, a book by Luis
Alberto Urrea that was assigned reading for another class I monitored a couple
of years ago, since I also describes the struggles of immigrants trying to
escape crime, and almost certain death, in their native country.
I’ve written extensively about immigration before. The most
recent articles were published on November 8, 2023 and June 3, 2022.
https://tohell-andback.blogspot.com/2023/11/what-do-experts-say-about-immigration.html
https://tohell-andback.blogspot.com/2022/06/thoughts-on-border-crisis.html
Strangely enough, the main concern for Republican voters in
Both Iowa and New Hampshire is immigration, even though both states are nowhere
near the southern border.
There is a reason for that.
After the Supreme court decision of Dobbs v. Mississippi, numerous
states have passed laws to make reproductive freedom EASIER. Since the majority
of the American public feels that abortion should be more readily available, it’s
a losing battle for the Republican party, who have lost virtually every battle
about it since June of 2022.
In order to improve their chances against Joe Biden in
November, they have seized on immigration as their weapon. Ironically, the folks
who considers themselves Christian are the LEAST likely people to ACT as
Christians.
There are NUMEROUS passages in the Bible that refer to immigrants,
and some of them can be found in the link below:
The Biden administration has done a better job on immigration
that it is given credit for. In fact, his administration has sone a better job
than the Trump administration did, but the Republicans are not interested in
helping his reelection chances.
https://www.bostonglobe.com/2024/01/23/opinion/biden-immigration-policies-2024-election/
FOX “news” has helped them by claiming that the border has
been a crisis for at least three years.
Both Greg Abbot and Ron DeSantis have instituted policies that
are needlessly cruel, including installing razor wire near the Rio Grande, sending
migrants to Minnesota in the winter without coats, or bussing them to Martha’s
Vineyard or New York City without notifying local officials.
“La Linea” translates into “the line” but also refers to “the
border”.
I’d recommend reading it.
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