Patterico's Pontifications

2/14/2018

Teacher Who Accused American Troops Of Being “The Lowest Of The Low” Refuses To Step Down From City Council

Filed under: General — Dana @ 12:26 pm



[guest post by Dana]

Remember Pico Rivera councilman and high school history teacher Gregory Salcido? He was recently seen on a secretly recorded video being so triggered by a student, who is the son of a combat veteran, wearing a U.S. Marine Corp sweatshirt in his classroom that he berated the student and disparaged the U.S. military as a result:

They’re not like high-level thinkers, they’re not academic people, they’re not intellectual people; they’re the frickin’ lowest of our low… I don’t understand why we let the military guys come over here and recruit you at school. We don’t let pimps come in the school.

Last night, during a City Council meeting where overflow seating was necessary, members passed a resolution asking for Salcido’s resignation from the Council. He declined to step down. Here is his childish, conditional faux-apology, in which he assumes no responsibility for his actions:

If this situation caused a problem, I certainly do apologize for it. If anything I’ve said has hurt somebody it was unintentional.

After seeing the video go viral, after being placed on administrative leave from his classroom, after angry residents congregated both outside and inside of the chamber and at least 50 castigated Salcido for three hours at last night’s council meeting, there can be no doubt in a reasonable man’s mind – and an honest man’s heart – that, not only did he cause a problem, but he also hurt many families who have lost loved ones while serving, and certainly offended the young man who wore a sweatshirt honoring his dad’s service, and in whose footsteps he plans to follow. Clearly, Salcido knowingly disparaged the U.S. military at large as well, thus offending any number of Americans. If Salcido were really this dense, he wouldn’t belong in a classroom. But obviously, he knew exactly how deeply offensive he was being in the classroom, but it didn’t matter to him. In his book, it was mission accomplished. Which makes him unfit for the classroom for an entirely different reason.

Here is his weak-soup offering made last night :

[Salcido] addressed the meeting, saying that since the videos became public, people have threatened to kill him, rape his wife and leave his son an orphan.

“And for what? For what you expressed out here tonight? That said, the first thing that I think is important here is to apologize if it means something though,” he said.

But he also reiterated, more diplomatically, what he said in the classroom: that he thought students with lower academic standing typically end up in the military.

“I don’t think it’s all a revelation to anybody that those who aren’t stellar students usually find the military a better option … that’s not a criticism of anybody. Anything I said had nothing to do with their moral character,” he said.

“I do believe the military is not the best option for my students.… That does not mean I’m anti-military, because I’m not,” he said.

Salcido also claimed that “he was trying to get his students, most of whom are low-income minorities, not to settle for the Army or Navy. “My goal as it relates to my students is to get them to do everything to get to college,” said Salcido, who was shouted down by some angry members of the audience. “I wanted to challenge them to reach their academic potential.””

Salcido also claims to be a pacifist.

A recall petition has been started. He continues to remain on administrative leave from his teaching job.

(Cross-posted at The Jury Talks Back.)

–Dana

48 Responses to “Teacher Who Accused American Troops Of Being “The Lowest Of The Low” Refuses To Step Down From City Council”

  1. “he was trying to get his students, most of whom are low-income minorities, not to settle for the Army or Navy.

    Because obviously, to such an academic like Salcido, people only enlist because they have “settled,” not because they want to serve their country, and certainly not because they want to take advantage of the GI Bill later on, perhaps after they have matured, or learned skills that will help them succeed in college or real life.

    Dana (023079)

  2. He’s a high school teacher also on local City Council who needs his a$$ handed to him at Boot Camp.

    Ben burn (b3d5ab)

  3. Guys like him don’t need to be in boot camp. The trainees would have to start locking their wall lockers.

    Richard Aubrey (10ef71)

  4. “he was trying to get his students, most of whom are low-income minorities, not to settle for the Army or Navy.”

    And he’s right.

    DCSCA (797bc0)

  5. It’s possible to talk to high school students about options which would be better *for those students* than the military is and yet *not* at the same time trash the entire military by describing them as “the lowest of the low”.

    So: even if I agree with his *goal*, his *means* were terrible.

    aphrael (e0cdc9)

  6. Salcido should become America’s poster boy for elitist, left wing, NEA activism!!!

    joe (fc6d93)

  7. people need to start standing up to the mob even people we don’t lik

    happyfeet (28a91b)

  8. *like* i mean

    even people we don’t *like*

    happyfeet (28a91b)

  9. Aphrael,

    It’s the “would be better” part of your comment that I have trouble with. It presumes that the military simply cannot be the better option for anybody, whether low income or not. If all options are presented as equal options, with their pros and cons clearly delineated – including the pros and cons of attending college, then that’s fair.

    Dana (023079)

  10. ugh so not in the mood for school shooting twittertainment maybe later

    america can just be exhausting some days

    happyfeet (28a91b)

  11. Dana – that’s fair. I would say that whether the military is a good option for a particular student depends on that particular student’s strengths, weaknesses, and desires, and that there is no one-size-fits-all policy.

    What I was saying is that it’s possible for a teacher who believes that the military is a bad option *for a particular student* can tell that student so *without trashing the military in general*.

    “It’s a bad option for you because $x” is different from “Stay away from them because they’re the lowest of the low”, and I think the *former* is entirely reasonable while the *latter* is just blindly rude.

    aphrael (e0cdc9)

  12. Sure, they will do much better with a BA in grievances. 🙁

    Is Salcido going to pay for all these poor kids to attend college, or just shame them if they don’t want to borrow $75,000 to do it?

    Let’s talk about the millions of veterans who had college paid for with the GI bill and went on to success.

    Famous GI bill grads: http://military.vista.edu/military-veterans/10-famous-vets-who-went-to-college-after-the-military/

    Patricia (3363ec)

  13. Pentagon: Afghan war costing US $45 billion per year

    http://www.militarytimes.com/news/pentagon-congress/2018/02/07/

    ‘Forty-five billion dollars. That’s how much the Pentagon says the Afghan war is costing American taxpayers, and with no end in sight…’

    17 years and counting…

    If Patton was alive he’d slap himself.

    DCSCA (797bc0)

  14. Don’t tell Mr. Salcido, but the college of education at most universities generally attracts those students with the lowest standardized test scores.

    JVW (42615e)

  15. that’s obscene Mr. DCSCA

    the pentagon is corrupt and perverted anymore

    you can be sure i abjure this

    happyfeet (28a91b)

  16. He’s a high school teacher also on local City Council who needs his a$$ handed to him at Boot Camp.

    Ben burn (b3d5ab) — 2/14/2018 @ 12:40 pm

    Hit him up on CL, you can go smoke him.

    Pinandpuller (fc5dd7)

  17. “It’s a bad option for you because $x” is different from “Stay away from them because they’re the lowest of the low”, and I think the *former* is entirely reasonable while the *latter* is just blindly rude.

    aphrael (e0cdc9) — 2/14/2018 @ 2:22 pm

    Like saying some teachers are better at teaching gym than making subtle distinctions.

    Pinandpuller (fc5dd7)

  18. All I need is PT

    He’ll come around.

    Ben burn (b3d5ab)

  19. Doesn’t seem like it’s all that subtle a distinction, pinandpuller.

    aphrael (e0cdc9)

  20. Was Fla. Shooter related to Ted Cruz?

    Ben burn (b3d5ab)

  21. Doesn’t seem like it’s all that subtle a distinction, pinandpuller.

    aphrael (e0cdc9) — 2/14/2018 @ 2:51 pm

    Exactly. Send that teacher to touch football hell.

    Pinandpuller (fc5dd7)

  22. DCSCA (797bc0) — 2/14/2018 @ 2:40 pm

    Military Times link is broken.

    Dave (445e97)

  23. I say was because he may have been beaten to a pulp.

    Ben burn (b3d5ab)

  24. Whatever happened to the Pulse shooter’s wife and the courtesan from Mandalay Bay? What are those FBI clowns doing?

    Pinandpuller (fc5dd7)

  25. Collage is not for everybody and, one size does not fit all.For a supposedly educated individual
    his behavior is not very intelligent.

    Ed C (7bbaf6)

  26. What are those FBI clowns doing?

    would you like to sign my petition

    happyfeet (28a91b)

  27. Ed C – certainly true. College is a great choice for some people and a bad choice for other people. I think it’s important that it be an *option* for everyone, but that doesn’t mean it’s the right option for everyone.

    aphrael (e0cdc9)

  28. aphrael, do you really think college should be an option for everyone? I take that to mean that college should be available to those who don’t even prove capable of high school level work. Or do you mean that college should be an option for everyone who proves to have the proper qualifications?

    Granted, that our country has developed the notion of the community college, where students can go for technical/trade education which might be substantially different than the traditional university education. Is that where your thinking was going when you mentioned making college a universal option? (Of course then again, even community college trade programs require the enrollee to have a high school diploma or GED, so I guess they aren’t truly open to all for that matter.)

    JVW (42615e)

  29. 23…not if he’s a “C”

    urbanleftbehind (d74249)

  30. @22. Google it.

    DCSCA (797bc0)

  31. A 2015 survey by the Higher Education Research Institute at UCLA found that nearly 71 percent of freshmen believed that colleges should “prohibit racist/sexist speech.” At 43 percent, a strong plurality of surveyed freshmen agreed colleges should “have the right to ban extreme speakers” from campus. These ideas didn’t spring up ex nihilo; they were taught. The institute’s 2010-11 survey of college administrators, professors, and staff found that nearly 70 percent of female college faculty and almost half of their male counterparts believed that colleges should “prohibit” speech deemed racist or sexist………

    ……..None of this is healthy, and it does students no favors when conservatives who notice this suboptimal state of affairs are mocked for their concern. This has been years in the making. It is an outgrowth of the infantile “safe space” movement, opposition to which has cost faculty their jobs. It is a byproduct of the appeal of segregation based on racial, political, gender, and sexual identity. After all, exposure to people of distinct backgrounds and views amounts to what Northwestern University President Morton Schapiro called “uncomfortable learning.” It is imprudent, even reckless, to gamble that students who embrace extremism in college will outgrow it in the real world, particularly when it is being nurtured in them by their elders.”

    https://www.commentarymagazine.com/american-society/campus-you-should-fear-for-the-future/

    harkin (75fedf)

  32. JVW, that’s a fair point. I mean to say that I want it available to anyone capable of doing the work, regardless of economic or social background. I also want community college available as a remedial resource for adults who never learned what they needed to in school. :{

    aphrael (e0cdc9)

  33. I don’t like any subtle suggestion that the military isn’t a first option, and a wonderfully viable first option, at that. And one that can be just as beneficial and life-changing as college can be. Salcido obviously believes that college is top choice, military can only be settling.

    Dana (023079)

  34. I also want community college available as a remedial resource for adults who never learned what they needed to in school. :{


    Sooooo…after paying for twelve years of school we’re supposed to again pay for their “remedial” education? The socialist slope gets slipperier every day. I guess when that fails they go on welfare and sell drugs as their new “opportunity”.

    Rev.Hoagie (6bbda7)

  35. There’s a combination of factors which has turned what used to be education into a paper chase. The principal one is otherwise unemployable academicians who want their workfare. There’s also the soft-headed judicial interpretations of equal employment opportunity laws, which have made it dangerous if not impossible for employers to train their own employees lest they be accused of discrimination, and forced them to rely on college diplomas.

    The by-product of that is that high schools are now mere preparatory schools. An American high school diploma is no longer considered evidence of an education, and rightfully so because mostly it is not, but only a prerequisite for college.

    It’s not like that in most of the rest of the world, and notably Europe, and it’s a disgrace that it has come to that here.

    nk (dbc370)

  36. JVW, that’s a fair point. I mean to say that I want it available to anyone capable of doing the work, regardless of economic or social background. I also want community college available as a remedial resource for adults who never learned what they needed to in school. :{

    aphrael (e0cdc9) — 2/14/2018 @ 5:29 pm

    If they pay for it from their own pockets.

    NJRob (35e922)

  37. Hoagie — I live in a state where community colleges have provided exactly that kind of remedial education since before I was born. This isn’t something new.

    The *availability* of resources for adults who realize now that they fucked up as kids, or who want to change careers and need education and training to do it, is essential.

    aphrael (e0cdc9)

  38. NJRob – this is one of those areas where public investment has a big economic benefit; if for a relatively low cost you can pull someone’s income up by tens of thousands of dollars a year, which community colleges can and do do, then you dramatically improve their quality of life *and* you dramatically improve their ability to contribute to the community and to pay taxes.

    It’s a worthwhile investment.

    aphrael (e0cdc9)

  39. NK – can you explain the argument that doesn’t allow employers to train their employees? I don’t get it.

    aphrael (e0cdc9)

  40. Talking of the military only in terms of whether it is better or worse for the kid is narrow-minded, because it treats the military merely as a job choice just like any other. The families I know with long traditions of military service would disagree.

    pst314 (7dee27)

  41. The principal one is otherwise unemployable academicians who want their workfare.

    Explain this one while you’re at it, too, if you don’t mind.

    Dave (445e97)

  42. I also want community college available as a remedial resource for adults who never learned what they needed to in school. :{

    I have a harder time supporting that part of the equation. As a taxpayer, I don’t like paying for a kid to not learn elementary arithmetic at a public high school, then paying a second time for that kid to not learn the material at a public community college. At some point I may blog about this, but I am kicking around an idea in my head where instead of being free (as Bernie Sanders, Hillary Clinton and others propose), a student pays for community college but then has the money refunded to them as long as they either finish an Associate’s Degree or transfer to a four-year college program. I’m still working on the details in my mind.

    JVW (42615e)

  43. Take this yutz and magbidy a 1,000 fold, its not an accident that Obama’s biggest audiences were at community colleges, they have become
    the default, because secondary education has become superfluous

    narciso (d1f714)

  44. Griggs v. Duke Power Company is the principal case, aphrael.

    TL;DR: Say ComEd hires both of us at entry level out of high school. It better be able to give strictly job-related non-discriminatory reasons why it picked you for its in-house management training and not me. Employers now let the colleges do all that, and rely on the diplomas and transcripts, because they don’t want the lawsuits.

    nk (dbc370)

  45. The principal one is otherwise unemployable academicians who want their workfare.

    Explain this one while you’re at it, too, if you don’t mind.

    That’s easy. Three out four college students don’t belong in college. They’re only wasting their youth and their parents’ money. Their piece of paper won’t help them one whit in finding the employment they want. Neither will the two years of “core curriculum” bullsh!t courses. They, these 75%, are there only to provide employment to the college and university watsises. For the whatsises’ benefit, not theirs.

    nk (dbc370)

  46. Three out four college students don’t belong in college. They’re only wasting their youth and their parents’ money. Their piece of paper won’t help them one whit in finding the employment they want. Neither will the two years of “core curriculum” bullsh!t courses. They, these 75%, are there only to provide employment to the college and university watsises. For the whatsises’ benefit, not theirs.

    We could argue about whether it’s 3/4 or some other fraction, but I don’t necessarily disagree with the general argument.

    But I think I missed the part where I, a simple professor, became responsible for their application to, or enrollment at, the university.

    At a research university, rising enrollment might lead to hiring of new faculty, and construction of new buildings to house them, but – due to the perversity of tenure – makes very little difference for faculty who are already in the system. Also, except for a one-time package of “start-up” funds when first hired, it’s important to understand that faculty research is generally NOT funded by the school (and thus is also unaffected by enrollment numbers).

    It is different at community colleges where people work on a more hourly basis (since classroom teaching is all they do). There, enrollment (or more specifically, the number of courses filled) probably does correlate with how much people teach (and therefore how much they get paid).

    To a good approximation, every faculty member at a university is there to do research (which includes training of graduate students), and undergraduate teaching just keeps the bills paid and the lights on in the laboratory.

    I have mixed feelings about the liberal arts degree. It is a major difference from Europe. I think it’s good to learn how to write, learn about history, learn a foreign language, learn about science (if you’re a humanities student) or humanities (if you’re a scientist). On the other hand, in physics, there is really so much we have to leave out just because of lack of credits. Also, I think a more focused curriculum could focus the students better. I guess if it were up to me, I’d trim back the courses outside the area of concentration without eliminating them entirely, or (gasp) give the students a bit more flexibility in deciding whether they want to concentrate or broaden their subject matter.

    Dave (445e97)

  47. As a taxpayer, I don’t like paying for a kid to not learn elementary arithmetic at a public high school, then paying a second time for that kid to not learn the material at a public community college.

    How about a football stadium…

    DCSCA (797bc0)

  48. I obviously am a lower life form intellectually. I joined the Navy and went into Navy Nuclear Power. I studied low-level subjects like math, physics, metallurgy, reactor theory. Plus learned such easy things like electrical circuitry and electronics. Plus spent a great deal of time learning about how systems on my submarines worked. Oh, if only I’d gone to college and learned gender theory, my life would be so much better now, than having to toil on automation controls for industry. My life is in shambles! >sobs<

    James Armstrong (d99d8b)


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