Why I Left California

37 years in the Golden State

The opening picture to this entry is rather dramatic, it’s Am Yisroel passing through the Yam Suf or the people of Israel passing through the Sea of Reeds. In case you were wondering, the Sea of Reeds is rendered as the ‘Red Sea’ in (mis)translations of the Bible.

The impact of the Exodus has made its mark on the Jewish people for all time and, indeed, on all civilizations as the story passed into other religions. Sometimes it’s just better to leave! Moishe had gone to Pharoah many times to make his case but the Pharoah, the ultimate power in that civilization, was irredeemably obstinate. Ultimately the Almighty had to get involved.

In the U.S., Americans radiated to the coastal state of California for decades. The weather was wonderful, the place was teeming with opportunities, and it was definitely the place to build a life. Recall that Joseph, though having been sold into slavery by his brothers, attained great success in Egypt, even becoming Pharoah’s ‘right hand man.’ When life became difficult in Canaan, Joseph welcomed his tribe into Egypt where there was food aplenty.

In my early 20s, I found myself stationed in California at the Defense Language Institute in Monterey whereat I met a woman who I would eventually marry. In my 20s and 30s I recall California being the ‘place to be.’ California was a magnet. After leaving the army, my wife and I settled in Long Beach. People from all over kept moving in and making their home in Southern California.

Alas, at some point in this story - it’s difficult to pinpoint the year - things began to go wacky in California. The State got bluer and bluer and being a Democrat was not the worst thing then because all people were generally reasonable, but the State radicalized. For those watching from afar, California became more radical with each passing year. We eventually moved to northern California.

It was probably during Obama’s presidency that Californians, at least along the coast where most of the population resides, began to engage in a competition to see who could become the most radical. The population had lost its moorings.

Workaday Democrats swiftly moved to the hard Left and I began to lose sight of normality. As a teacher, respect in the classroom began to diminish precipitously, radical ideas were being taught at Professional Development courses for teachers (PDs), and I recall the song I Kissed A Girl And I Liked It by Katy Perry blaring in the hallways over the school intercom on a Monday morning just prior to first period.

The was a pivotal moment for me. I recall most of the staff being elated. Teachers said things like, ‘It’s high time we tell these teenagers to get it on with the same sex.’ Conversely, I recall a teacher who was always calm and professional having a break down and telling me, ‘THIS should not be played at school, THIS is not right.’ Her face had gone red. The THIS was the Katy Perry song.

After that Monday, I slowly became more aware of what was transpiring in the halls of high school academia. The Katy Perry song was just the beginning. More inappropriate songs were played on Monday mornings, I heard from students that many teachers began talking openly about their sexual experiences, and the amazing teacher who was miffed by the Katy Perry song had fallen silent. There were whispers that she was homophobic because she remarked that the song ought not to be blared and trumpeted in the halls of high school.

Even then to be called ‘homophobic’ was a call for social excommunication whether it was true or not. Turns out that I later talked to that teacher and she was not opposed to two girls kissing, rather she was opposed to promoting it. Then, as now, this strikes me as a reasonable position. Why should public schools with a captive audience celebrate two girls kissing??

Politically I was on the Left at that time in my life but these developments put me on edge. My Left-leaning time at University had taught me that all this ‘new stuff’ was good but my gut told me that it was wrong to impose left-wing values on an entire school. A voice inside me kept saying that school aught to be neutral and that ideological agendas must be kept out of the classroom. I kept my vacillations to myself and I began to develop stomach aches.

In 2009 my daughter was in Ms. __________’s health class. I always asked my daughter to tell me one thing she learned that day as we drove home. One day she told me that she was upset because Ms. __________ told the class that, ‘in order to be open-minded you need to have sex with a transgender person.’ My daughter and I were of one mind: teachers should not tell children who to have sex with.

I set up an appointment with the principal to discuss it and the principal told me that the teacher was within her rights to promote pro-transgender messages to the students. Point of fact: that teacher still teaches at the school.

Stories like this could go on for hours. The tales of inappropriate encouragement being publicly proclaimed by teachers who have a captive audience in the classroom are not just mine but have been trickling in to me over the years as students came to me during lunch (my classroom was always open) to tell me about what this or that teacher said. I became an unofficial counselor to the students who were traditional, conservative, religious, or just didn’t like to have sexual, political, and revolutionary idea imposed upon them during instructional time. Indulge me for another illustration.

In 2018, a boy came to me during lunch. He was a senior then but had been in two of my history courses and trusted me. He asked me if he should be ashamed to be a man.

Hiding my shock in order to remain calm, I retorted, ‘Of course not, why would you think such a thing?’ He then explained to me that his 10th grade English teacher had constantly railed against the boys for having ‘white male privilege’ and wouldn’t allow them to raise their hands. If a boy raised his hand in her class - according to him - she’d shout put your hand down, you’re not going to exercise your male privilege in this classroom.

Then came 11th grade.

The same young man had had an 11th grade teacher who defined the term patriarchy as a hideous oppressive mechanism employed by all men to subjugate all women. At the end of each class period, the instructor would shout Down with the Patriarchy and pump her fist in the air. The girls would join along, some enthusiastically and others reluctantly just to fit in. The boys remained absolutely silent in that class especially during the lessons on ‘toxic masculinity.’

The story was corroborated by a girl I met on School Site Council who explained to me that she loved Ms _________ and she did the fist in the air Down with the Patriarchy gesture to show me. That 11th grade teacher was promoted to administrator in the district.

Whether it’s boys being made to feel ashamed for being a man, girls being trained to view themselves as victims, the constant scream about racism and white privilege, the formal teaching of an infinite number of genders, the use of ancillary (not approved) articles in the classroom that are revolutionary in nature, lessons on the ‘climate emergency’ that include articles about racist trees, they kept doubling down on the craziness. Then the Hierarchy of Oppression began to be taught formally and things got worse.

In California they teach an Ethnic Studies course in high school, this was signed into law by Governor Newsome. Ethnic Studies sounds very nice, who wouldn’t want his child to learn about other ethnicities?? Except it’s not about ethnicity, it’s about political terms, concepts, and revolutionary ideas promulgated by the hard Political Woke Left. Students are explicitly taught from a Hierarchy of Oppression which situates white, heterosexual, Christian males at the top as the apex oppressor and a concomitant list of minorities that trail down the triangle.

Educators and parents are not allowed to disagree with the Hierarchy of Oppression. If any person or group attempts to challenge the hierarchy, the individual or the entire group gets labeled with the usual social excommunication labels such as racist, homophobic, transphobic, xenophobic, and so forth. It feels like the rules of the Spanish Inquisition in which anybody who disagreed was labeled a heretic.

When I had gone through my teacher training in California, we were taught the term ‘multivocality’ meaning that there are multiple views on a topic and we were instructed by professors to honor everyone’s voice. There’s been a seismic shift in teacher training since then, now our young teachers are coached to acquiesce to the dominant ideology and endorse it in their classes - no more multivocality, no more viewpoint diversity!

Finally it became difficult for me to function. Sure I continued to teach well and my colleagues and administrators liked me because I suppressed my sense of anguish. I taught history in an authentic manner, free from the politicization that California required. I did not teach my students that Abraham Lincoln was bi or gay as I was told to do at a PD for history teachers and there were so many other revisionist ideas to which I nodded and smiled at PDs but simply did not teach in my classroom.

My friends and neighbors outside of school encouraged me to stay. Their reasoning was that I was doing a great service by ‘taking up a space.’ At least in my class, students would not be indoctrinated. But how long can that go on? And at whose expense? I continued to put on weight, I developed an ulcer for which I continue to take meds, and I became withdrawn spending nearly every weekend by myself in my house. I could not cope with the enormity of the problem; I was in the belly of the beast.

As I began my Exodus story, I started with a general sense of beauty, opportunity, and growth that California provided for me and millions of others some 30+ years ago. Quickly I segued into my experiences as a public school teacher because that’s where I felt the change most dramatically, after all we spend much of our time at work, right? I could fill a book with eye-opening experiences given my quarter century experience teaching in the state of California.

California continues to lose population because people vote with their feet. Between 2007 and 2016, a net one million people left the Golden State. In 2020, 650,000 people left for other states. To this day, departures exceed arrivals. Point of fact, California lost a congressman after the last census due to population lose. I, like so many others, headed for a red state. The picture below is just two blocks from my house:

Now I live in a state that has men and women, nobody argues about an endless number of genders and their invented pronouns. American flags fly from houses, ice cream parlors, doctor’s offices, car dealerships, county offices, grocery stores, … they’re omnipresent.

For sure the most ubiquitous flag is the American flag but there are also plenty of Trump flags, the state flag, Army flags, Marine flags, Blue Line flags, you get the idea. It’s a traditional place that celebrates America, Christian holidays, and it’s what sociologists would call a high trust culture as is the case everywhere in small town America. When you’re parked on the side of the road and a car pulls up, you know they’re going to ask if you need help rather than carjack you.

My exodus is only a short term and personal solution. There are hints everywhere that the model for systemic woke culture is being exported from California to Middle America. For example, the State teacher training programs are full of deleterious pedagogic philosophies that are now fully and systemically implemented in California. It’s a raging infestation that has its tentacles in State teacher certification programs from sea to shining sea and buttressed by preeminent, powerhouse teacher unions. I will write more on this in future entries.

I can’t claim that God told me to leave. I don’t have a staff like Moses and there have been no signs and wonders but I’m gone now and my health is recovering slowly. I also feel relaxed and happy for the first time in years. I bought an e-bike and I ride at least 10 miles a day. Today I rode 20 miles and I loved feeling the wind in my face as I rode along the shore then down country roads often seeing deer, rabbits scurrying across the road, and horses who eyed me strangely as I disturbed their bucolic bliss.

It’s unclear what to do now but those States that have not yet succumbed to the Religion of Woke need to stand their ground. It’s a time to think but also a time to stand. Our children and grandchildren are certainly worth it. Please join me in getting involved. Run for School Board wherever you live, that’s what I’ll be doing!

Post Script: Detailed articles about curriculum and pedagogy are forthcoming. Stay tuned!