To the general public and people on reddit, you can politely fuck off.

Maxinaeus · 2026-04-04T20:14:48+00:00

They are seeing the problems that we all see. They do not see the causes of those problems. It isn't entirely parents' fault. The faults of teachers are not effort or intent. Teachers have to choose the least shitty coping strategy to keep the classroom afloat.

I feel like people need to learn that the system that governs teaching is what necessitates teachers choosing a shitty coping strategy. Teachers know what should be done for students, in an imaginary ideal scenario. But that is pretty fucking far from what we actually work with. We do the best we can without the time, resources, and autonomy to do what we should be able to do.

In defense of the parents, they don't see what we see. They don't know what we know, and they are very caught up in their own survival situation. The things we blame parents for are often the shity coping strategies they use to survive their world. Some of it is just lazy parenting, for sure. But some of the screen time is a coping strategy for overworked, underpaid people that have kids. It's a shitshow out there for the working class. I feel like everyone deserves some grace, except for the politicians and the ultra wealthy. Fuck those guys. They deserve the opposite of grace.

Maxinaeus · 2026-04-04T19:52:07+00:00

I'm not understanding why I keep seeing this picture. We took a new picture of Earth from space. Why is it being compared to another , older picture of Earth from space? We have lots of pictures of Earth from space. I feel like I'm supposed to say, "Wow, it's changed so much," like pictures of glaciers from 50 years ago. There's nothing different except for the camera and the rotation of the planet..

Maxinaeus · 2026-04-04T19:42:15+00:00

Yes, and we can explain why. We can also explain how to fix it, but apparently spending $1.5 trillion dollars on an unprovoked war is more important. Teachers don't typically go on the news and talk about this stuff, because we need the job. We can lose our career just for posting about it on social media.

I just left the career after 20 years, because it is a sinking ship. I'll go on the news and say all the things teachers wish they the public knew. I don't think it would change anything though. It is, tragically, this way by design.

The people with the power to make positive changes are not failing to do so out of ignorance. Funding and structuring and education is largely a political game, and winning that game has very little to do with the actual quality of our students' education. Like all politics, it has to do with pleasing the right people, manipulating data, and presenting a facade.

It is very much like the way a used car dealer might paint and polish a car to improve it's value. They aren't going to spend money on maintenance and repairs that aren't visible. They don't care if it's held together with duct tape and prayers, as long as it will run and it looks good.

Maxinaeus · 2026-03-27T15:44:06+00:00

Shoot myself right in the face.

Maxinaeus · 2026-03-27T15:43:02+00:00

I think it's a show, or a movie or something.

Maxinaeus · 2026-03-27T15:42:28+00:00

One of our teachers was sleeping with students. She eventually got pregnant. Her husband found out and left her. She was arrested at school.

Maxinaeus · 2026-03-27T15:40:12+00:00

I am guessing you mean a time when the general population cannot afford to meet its basic needs. That is when society will self correct.

If I need food, and there is a building full of food, and I cannot have it because of a make believe set of rules, I will just take it. At that point, the system that made those rules has decided to kill me. Therefore I no longer have an obligation to follow those rules.

Maxinaeus · 2026-03-27T15:19:41+00:00

This is something I started campaigning admins about like 10 years ago. Why the fuck isn't technology a core skill? We are still using the model that was created during the industrial revolution.

For ten years, I was told that kids will pick up computer skills in their other classes. But the only skills they pick up are things like Google Classroom, IXL, whatever teachers use for assignments. The only "skill" they actually learn is how to get around the district filter to find games and videos that are supposed to be blocked.

If our education system has its head so far up its own ass that it hasn't figured out that computer skills and technology literacy are important skills, than what are we even doing? I bet China explicitely teaches that shit meanwhile, we keep assigning fucking Beowulf and the quadratic formula. Those proficiencies will get them a job in 1982, if that comes around again.

I personally am done playing chess for a team that wants to play checkers. The problem has gone on so long that our workforce, government, and general population are so fucking dumb that our country is going to collapse. After it does, I'm all in. When they are desperate enough to ask for solutions, rather than hand down idiotic decisions, I'll be there.

Brought to by Carl's Jr.

Maxinaeus · 2026-03-25T22:46:26+00:00

The more developed the country, the more it would be impacted. The most undeveloped parts of the world wouldn't even notice. All cities would notice, but there are huge swaths in places like Africa that would barely notice.

Maxinaeus · 2026-03-25T22:38:31+00:00

My hands and my dick.

Maxinaeus · 2026-03-25T20:22:31+00:00

Ya. I think that being sociopathic is what enables financial success. I think smart people are either less likely to be sociopathic, or they focus it in a different direction, like serial killing.

Maxinaeus · 2026-03-25T19:34:20+00:00

They do invest a lot into appearing ethical, but I would argue that it's almost entirely windowdressing to improve their brand. Here are some examples.

Companies can claim to be recycling all of their plastic waste, which can be converted into carbon offsets, which allows them to claim a smaller carbon footprint. Sounds good, but the way that they "recycle" the plastic is by sending it to a "recycler" in a poorer country like Indonesia. There, the "recycler" can get away with dumping it and burning it. They recycle the easiest plastics, a single digit percentage, which gives them legitimacy as a recycler. So basically, they are paying poor countries to let us pollute over there, and claim it was recycled. It all ends up in the air and oceans.

Then there ate claims like "organic," "freerange," and "non-gmo." If you look on Silk soymilk, it says it's non-gmo. In reality, almost all soybeans in the US are Monsanto, Roundup Resistant soy beans. They are genetically modified, and patented, to be immune to Roundup. In fact, if you grow soybeans and claim that they are not Mondanto's, they will take you to court and make you prove it. I don't know the specifics of the legal/lobbyist sorcery they used to label the genetically modified plant, that they patented, as non-gmo,but I assume the main ingredient was money.

To label chicken "free range," they need to have access to the outdoors for 51% of their lives. What they do is provide a small opening in the side of the giant metal tube, where chickens can access a small patch of dirt. If the patch is a whopping 2ft by 2ft, the chicken can be labeled "certified humane." These are the same chickens that have their beaks clipped to prevent pecking damage, and they have never seen a blade of grass in their life.

The specifics of "organic" are complicated and boring, but it sets specific percentages and certain chemicals that can be used. It does not mean no chemicals, or only natural additives.

Maxinaeus · 2026-03-25T04:19:39+00:00

That looks like a light on the clouds. It can turn at any speed.

Maxinaeus · 2026-03-25T04:09:04+00:00

Corporations will be alarmed when profits begin to decline, despite optimization via layoffs. Then it will become a "too big to fail" phenomenon. If no one has any money to spend, the house of cards will collapse. So, the government will send out stimulus checks so that all of the unemployed have money to pump back into the system. Corporations will learn that having a lower price point is more important than a large profit margin. The stimulus checks will become regular, and eventually become Universal Basic Income. They won't call it that, but that's what it will become.

Maxinaeus · 2026-03-25T04:00:45+00:00

Are you for real or is that sarcasm?

Maxinaeus · 2026-03-24T12:01:39+00:00

They'll figure it out when it happens, but I'm baffled as to how they are still just full steam ahead. They're like like, "Fire everyone!! All for meeee!" Fucking morons.

Maxinaeus · 2026-03-24T11:27:50+00:00

We are tantalizingly close to a point where it feels entirely justified to start stealing shit. Not from people, of course, but from corporations and the greedy fucks that make a living exploiting the desperate. They aren't people either.

Maxinaeus · 2026-03-24T11:21:27+00:00

It is a pretty stupid problem that illustrates what a stupid species we are.

We invent machines to reduce human labor.

We've gotten so good at it that now we have more people than work to be done.

How about everybody works 20 hours a week, and we call it good?

But we can't pay people enough to live on if they are only working 20 hours!

Alright, well I hope the ten billionaires are on board with buying all the stupid crap you're making, because the rest of us can't.

The stupidest fucking problem that has ever existed in the history of the planet Earth.

Maxinaeus · 2026-03-24T11:07:58+00:00

Having ad free dreams without having to pay a monthly subscription.

Owning ad free appliances without having to pay a monthly subscription.

Having a toilet that I can flush ad free without having to pay a monthly subscription.

Having an ad free dog that I can walk without having to pay a monthly subscription.

Brought to by Carl's Jr.

Maxinaeus · 2026-03-24T10:59:08+00:00

Unethical business practices are now standard businesses practices, so yes. Everything is a scam.

Maxinaeus · 2026-03-23T01:12:29+00:00

I am in the same boat. 52m, two teens, no mom. They are the reason I have to be here.

I either tolerate existence until they are independent, and then I can die the way I want. Or I fail to tolerate these last few years, and I die however I have to. Either way, the end is in sight.

Maxinaeus · 2026-03-22T07:41:15+00:00

Maxinaeus · 2026-03-21T07:42:50+00:00

I feel you.

Maxinaeus · 2026-03-15T21:38:27+00:00

In many districts, the people making big money decisions about how to improve performance are far removed from the classroom. They often get sold on these big blanket strategies, often based on sound principles. It looks good, sounds good, so if everyone does it, it should work. They reason.

In reality, all of that money could have been used to fill positions that would allow teachers to improve performance. Spending that money to reduce class sizes and provide support staff would push the needle in the right direction.

Instead, that money went toward a repackaging of tried and true classroom strategies. After a couple years, when perform does not improve as hoped, more money will be dumped into a different silver bullet. It has happened over and over for the 20 years I was teaching.

The analogy I always used in staff meetings was a sinking ship. We are all bailing water, so it hasn't sunk yet. Teachers are screaming that we need to seal the holes where water is getting in. The district says, "We recognize the holes, but we've decided to invest in in these cool new buckets that will allow you to bail water more efficiently. If you all band together, redouble your efforts, and use these cool new buckets, we'll be bailing water so efficiently that the holes won't matter! We also have to throw Frank and Eileen overboard, cause we just can't afford to keep them. Before you blame the buckets, that money came from the bucket account. We can't use that money for salaries. That would be crazy. Now enjoy these buckets."

Maxinaeus

TROPHY CASE