Exploring Washington State History: The Importance of Executive Cabinet Positions
Hello everyone, while working on my new lesson plan for Washington State History, I found myself delving deeply into the subject of executive cabinet positions and why middle school students should learn what they are. I began creating a lesson focused on the Washington State Executive cabinet positions, which are appointed by the state governor. Article Three of the State Constitution grants the Governor the authority to make these appointments. I’ve been developing several student activities, including a cabinet position flip book and a cabinet seal project that reflects the duties and challenges of each cabinet position. There are numerous ways we can integrate this into Washington State history.
As I researched the Governor’s website, I stumbled upon the smaller cabinet positions, also appointed by the governor, and discovered some unsettling information about Olympia. This exploration led me to a conversation with my husband about Dr. Karen Johnson, who was terminated from her role as the First Director of the Washington State Office of Equity (OOE). The OOE, created in 2020 by Jay Inslee, is a small cabinet position. This position piqued my interest, because in the late 80s and early 90s I was in the foster care system, so i would be considered the very vulnerable, disadvantaged person this office was designed to look after.
The DEI office has publicly redefined accountability for Washington State citizens on websites funded by taxpayers. They assert that accountability is inherently white, European, and 'normative', suggesting it imposes collective beliefs, values, norms, and behaviors that influence individual choices and may compromise moral judgment. The entire idea is predicated on the principle that 'collective thinking' ie (white, European accountability) has infiltrated individuals' minds, As if each individual is a baby that needs to be placed in a high chair, coddled, and spoon-fed morality. They aim to redefine accountability as if individuals lack the capacity to discern right from wrong, treating them as though they are unable to think independently like mature adults. The very idea people do not find this insulting is hard to fathom.
The entire DEI office reminds me of the Spanish novel Don Quixote. Quixote was honorable in his heart but delusional in his belief that he had to fight windmills, thinking they were giants. Similarly, I see the DEI office as a group of little Don Quixotes, fighting imaginary oppressions and then congratulating themselves for their so-called contributions to society. As someone who endured hardships in the foster care system, I find their efforts to address perceived injustices delusional and misguided. One of my foster sisters was a 16-year-old Tutsi victim of the Rwandan Genocide with an 18 month old baby whose biological father was Hutu. Yes, one of my foster sisters was sexually violated at the age of 14, impregnated, and migrated as a refugee to the united states where her and the baby were placed in foster care. I had a foster sister whose mother died in a brutal car accident, others sexually abused, physically abused and often neglected because their parents were on drugs. When I think of all these horrific things I saw at such a young age, and then the government of Washington State dumping buckets of money into these gilded woke programs is disheartening to say the least.
Naturally, this is the sort of thing I must omit from any lessons I create. My lesson focuses on Washington State cabinet positions, emphasizing their importance and the governor's authority to make these appointments as granted by the state constitution. This highlights why the election of the governor has a more direct impact on our lives than the presidential election. The goal is to help students understand these connections, not to delve into unnecessary DEI discussions that reduce people to their skin color and replace objective reality with a narrative.
If we want to address the bad logic - how do we do it?
One way to prepare our students for entering the world of adult thinking is to incorporate the philosophy of Karl Popper into our natural and social science curriculum. Philosophy of science sounds hard at first, and trust me it was one of the hardest philosophy classes I ever had to take. But we can beef it down and make it accessible to students. If we can do this, students will develop enhanced critical thinking skills by emphasizing the importance of falsifiability and objective analysis. This simply means students will learn to formulate questions, “if this is wrong - how is it wrong?” If the answer is, “there is no way it could be wrong!” Then you have an unfalsifiable theory - which is bad. ghosts are unfalsifiable, as is god, as is psychoanalysis and the invisible green elves that live in the bottom of my closet. The theory of gravity is falsifiable, it can be falsified by a simple experiment testing if things can fall up. Things do not fall up, but the fact that we can perform the experiment is what we are looking for. And think on it for a second, who would believe something that cannot be tested? A naive person, that is who.
Popper’s philosophy encourages students not to be naive, the will learn to have a critical eye and actively try to debunk claims. The bigger the claim, the greater duty to debunk. My point is clear, if we want our students to have the intelligence to debunk government nonsense, which we know they will encounter for the rest of their lives from all political parties, they must learn how to falsify a theory. There is absolutely no way around it. That is why I put elements of critical rationalism into most of my Washington State History Lessons.
When we remove critical rationalism from curriculum, students will not develop the skill set they will need to evaluate public narratives. Our students are destined to become adults who may lack the skills to approach complex issues critically, value evidence over mere belief, challenge assumptions, and engage in open, constructive dialogue. This deficiency could hinder their ability to make informed decisions in various aspects of their lives, from personal relationships to professional endeavors. Critical rationalism teaches us how to think about the stuff we are constantly being told, and it also teaches us that we have to be skeptical.
If you are looking for the right lessons, lessons that incorporate rational thinking, Then you should look at this Washington State History Bundle. All information are aligned with standards, and we can keep this non-sense out of the classroom. I keep all my lessons honest, and never insert any political narrative. When I create civics lessons, I create them because I live in Washington State as do my entire extended family and I do not want to live in a society where people do not know what their civic duties are. These lesson are fun, engaging, as well as brutally honest about our duties as individuals.
The above image was taken from the Washington State DEI website. As it clearly reads, Accountability is apparently white and European, this leads me to wonder if they think accountability looks different in Japan, South Korea, India or Nepal?I have literally dedicated my business, anthropologist in Heels, to creating one of a kind lessons about all of humanity. I’ve researched indigenous Haida art, created coloring pages depicting indigenous people of South America, Australia, Indonesia and Asia. I am also fluent in three languages, with some minor abilities in two other foreign languages. All that considered, I am telling my audience that accountability is not, nor has it ever been historically white or European. That claim is nothing more than a constructed narrative, and the answer to the question - why are they creating this narrative? What do they want from it? Why did they need to use the adjective “white” and the noun “European” to make their point?
I have the utmost confident that my audience knows what accountability looks like to them. The entire idea that accountability is a white, european invention displays an ignorance about the actual world and planet we live on. This makes me question how many of these DEI people, who believe this narrative, have lived for prolonged periods of time in foreign countries. Do they know what it is like to live in Saudi Arabia? Do they know what it feels like to navigate the Subways of Paris where you have no option but to speak French to communicate? Do they know what it is like to see real poverty, or what true ugly looks like. I know for a fact that several of my foster sisters could give these people a lesson or two about what it means to live outside of this country.
If you are my age, you might remember the Micheal Keaton comedy, Gung Ho, there was a scene of a Japanese man wearing ribbons of Shame. Ribbons of shame usually refers to a Japanese management practice of giving ribbons with criticisms to those employees who fail to meet expectations. If your boss needs to punish you, then you get to wear the scarlet Ribbon of Shame around the office. That practice is specifically East Asian. These traditions are non-white Asian traditions of accountability, many of them predicated on shame and punishment.
The Right Message
The message we should send to students is that each one of them is an individual. Accountability is when they, on an individual level, look themselves in the mirror experiencing the fruits of their choices. Full Stop. This might bring great joy when you set a goal, work on it diligently every day, and see it pay off. Conversely, it could lead to facing consequences, such as involvement with the Department of Corrections, due to a series of poor choices. Accountability can involve self-imposed punishment through self-blame or external punishment imposed by society. I think it goes without saying that we should also stop referring to accountability being “normalized”, because to do so reduces the individual mind to nothing more than a cog in a machine. Individuals are not in the Borg (star Trek Reference). Moreover, we cannot in all honesty say that society is something that actually exists, in truth we are nothing more than a collection of individuals, each with their unique mind. With that, I reject the DEI argument that anything is being “normalized”. What is normal for you will be different from what is normal for your next door neighbor.
I imagined what George Orwell would have written about Washington State defining accountability for the State Sheep. This is my orwellian rendition of the situation: “In the shadowed corridors of power, where ink-stained hands craft the narratives that bind us, the word “accountability” dances like a marionette on strings. Its once noble purpose—holding the powerful to task—is now twisted, reshaped, and weaponized. The Ministry of Truth, with its Newspeak lexicon, whispers that accountability means loyalty to the Party, obedience to the orthodoxy. The unspoken truth: Accountability is not for the masses; it is a cudgel wielded by those who mold reality. In this labyrinth of linguistic manipulation, the very concept of responsibility evaporates, leaving only the hollow echo of compliance.”
The important lesson is, never allow any government organization to tell you what accountability is. Do it for yourself. If we do need inspiration about accountability, do not look to the State of Washington To tell you What it is because Olympia would rather embrace mediocrity than seek out Excellence. Equal outcomes, in their misguided pursuit, undermine the very essence of individual effort, talent, and merit—the bedrock upon which personal growth and societal advancement are built. When one prevails based on their own hard work, intellect, and perseverance, the triumph is not only more significant and rewarding but also profoundly dignifying. The reason you should listen to me and not the Washington State DEI is because I am informed, and grew up in the foster care system. With few people to help me, I made my way through this world. i paid my entire college education myself, and today speak three languages fluently. So if we want to teach our students to be individuals - the ultimate minority - then instead of giving them DEI lectures, or validating an of that unfalsifiable ‘systemic oppression’ crap, I suggest playing a great speech by about Accountability is from Arnold Schwarzenegger, he is the greatest motivational speaker and I have included his lectures in some of my google slides presentations.
Thank you for Reading my ramblings today.
