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Steely Tom, thanks so much for that video. Fantastic portrayal of the moral mess America is in!

It reminded me of my son when he was in the first grade. The teacher played a math game every week where the children were split into teams and the team that scored the highest, won. Only problem was, which ever team had Joey lost, because Joey could not memorize his math facts. So it became a ritual of everyone in fury when they got Joey on their team and Joey was horrified. He cried.

My son explained the situation to me and was extremely sad for Joey. He hated the ritualistic abuse of him. He said “I am not playing that game anymore.” It was his first assertion of justice and mercy...and protest against injustice.

I told him that if he refused to play, the teacher would be angry with him and probably be mean to him but that I would not be upset with him. You won’t be the teacher’s pet. She’ll probably pick on you, but she won’t be able to get me on her side. I told him to say why he was not playing in front of the whole class and he did. Three other kids said they were not playing that stupid game anymore, either.

The teacher called me in to tell on him and I said I agreed with my son. She was furious. But the word spread among other parents and soon the game was over.

I don’t want to brag, but it is true that my son was testing out at the sixth grade level in first grade in reading and math. It was hard to pick on him in any meaningful way. She tried bothering him, but I refused to meet with her. I was too busy. He said she just ignored him and that was supposed to hurt his feelings. But he knew why so it did not bother him.