I teach both middle school "technology" (think shop class mixed with Computer Science) and I later teach the same students in geometry and calculus in high school. This means when I first work with students there are no grades, just an opportunity to be creative and learn how to use tools and programming to make things.
This creates an amazing foundation for our work in academics later.
I wonder if it could be a model for improving math education we could expand?
Best math teacher I ever had was when he prefaced each lesson with a historical background on what real world problem math was designed to solve.
These parables and stories still stick with me now.
The "narrative & solution" combo is a really effective technique.
Oddly enough, it's also why Republican propaganda is so pernicious.
They'll stick a lie or a false narrative in front of a concluding "Fascism is the Solution!" and it becomes "sticky" in people's minds.
There are several examples:
1. Trans rights.
The GOP promotes nonsense about sports & trans athletes, then advocates for "inspections" & foments fake moral panics.
The goal is the eradication of privacy as a civil right.
False narrative:
https://glaad.org/fact-sheet-for-reporters-sex-testing-in-sports/
Fascist conclusion:
No democracy can survive the loss of privacy as a civil right.
https://www.wired.com/story/republicans-differential-privacy-census-overhaul/
https://prismreports.org/2025/07/10/surveillance-state-in-u-s-is-far-worse-than-you-imagined/
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2. Women's rights
Republicans fund narratives about "male loneliness" on manosphere web sites & blogs.
They decry falling birthrates & fake stories about infanticide.
False narrative:
https://laist.com/brief/news/kpcc-archive/how-to-la/men-are-lonely-we-explore-some-reasons-why-and-what-can-be-done-about-it
https://internationalviewpoint.org/Loneliness-suicide-misogyny-capitalism
https://www.buzzfeed.com/hannahdobro/shocking-things-men-said-on-first-dates
https://19thnews.org/2024/09/trump-doubles-down-abortion-execution-babies-debate/
Fascist conclusion: male supremacy
Repeal the 19th amendment & impose a de facto poll tax on married women to vote.
https://thedispatch.com/article/women-vote-empathy-19th-amendment-repeal/
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3. Immigration, POC, & crime
Republicans promote a sick ideology that cleaves immigrants and POC to crime rates.
False narrative:
Immigrants are less likely to be involved in criminal conduct, not more. There's no such thing as voter fraud in POC communities.
https://www.reuters.com/world/us/trump-focuses-migrants-crime-here-is-what-research-shows-2024-04-11/
https://truthout.org/articles/data-disproves-right-wing-talking-points-about-migrant-crime/
Fascist conclusion:
Felony disenfranchisement & mass deportation programs
https://www.democracydocket.com/news-alerts/new-gop-anti-voting-bill-may-be-the-most-dangerous-attack-on-voting-rights-ever/
Donald Trump is blaming migrants in the U.S. illegally for fueling violent crime as part of his campaign to win back the White House, repeating rhetoric used during his previous run for the presidency. But studies show immigrants are not more likely to engage in criminality.
myrmepropagandist
Nicole Parsons
Maypop the Dragon