An Underground Classroom Where You Will Learn Dangerous Knowledge

Messages from Mr. A

February 13, 2025: A New Mission for the Class Website

Last week I learned that teachers throughout Florida, and many other states, were directed to deny education to their students with regard to their basic civil rights. This was a response to the President removing schools as a safe space from federal policing authority like ICE or the Border Patrol. Now school districts are scurrying to develop policies in the eventuality that an ICE agent may show up at the schoolhouse door intending to detain a student or students.

The biggest concern was that an ICE Agent may try to interrogate a child without an adult in the room. My district has indicated that, should a federal agent demand to be alone with the child, the administration should ultimately comply. Further, the administration must also comply with a request that parents not be notified until after the interrogation.

In the above case, students need to be aware of and well-practiced in asserting their rights, in education we call that self-advocating, and is a common goal for students. My district, and from what I understand, many others, have instructed teachers that they are NOT to provide classes on student civil rights, including asserting the right to remain silent.

I’m no longer a teacher for the district. I can teach whatever I want. So I put together a one-page script to help train students to assert their Constitutional Right to remain silent. In doing so, I have finally figured out the direction of this website. From this moment forward, this site will be dedicated to teaching the lessons that teachers in authoritarian states (mostly MAGA, but authoritarians can come in left-leaning stripes as well) are afraid to teach or are forbidden from teaching.

As it stands, I’m just a guy at a keyboard doing the best I can. I have other projects that I’m working on. I will be posting “underground lessons” as I go along, but I could use some help. If you are a teacher who has a topic that you would like discussed on this page, please reach out to me using the Teacher Corner page. Optimally, if you could write up the lesson, or provide a video, but you would rather not use your own media platforms, send them to me. After vetting them for validity (not ideology) I will post them…giving full credit if you desire, defaulting to anonymous if you do not specify.

This is also a great opportunity for retired or former teachers who have moved on to more lucrative careers, but still want to satisfy your teaching feen, please set up your own website, or send your lessons to me and I will post them.

Please do not include assignments to be graded or quizzes, etc. We want our kids to view these topics. Please make them informative and interesting. Any “work” associated should be voluntary on the part of the student and self-directed.

October 3, 2024: Write Your Notes by Hand!

My students always complained when I required notes be done by hand. “Why can’t we type? I learn better when I type? Can’t I just take a picture of the screen and paste it?” They would get so mad. I would point out the research that suggests that the more sensory input involved in a task, the better it is processed by the brain, and the better you learn. Still, they whined!

Well, this short article in Scientific American validates my position. It is better to hand-write your notes. Hands On: Writing by Hand Comes with Learning Benefits

August 4, 2024

So, I’m no longer in the classroom, but this site still gets a lot of traffic. I’m hearing that teachers and students still find what I’ve posted on the pages and the blogs useful. For that reason, I’m in the process of “rejiggering” the site to make it useful to teachers and students of social science. I’m especially aiming my focus at those teachers and students struggling here in the “Free State of Florida”. Please be patient as I continue to reconstruct the site.

As it stands, I plan to focus on Sociology and Economics to start with. I’m hoping to then move into history and philosophy. You will see the pages move around and maybe even disappear for a time before I settle on a format I like. Please feel free to use, reprint, repost, and outright steal anything on this site for your classes.

Mike Andoscia, Forever Teacher no longer on payroll!