Forsyth County Georgia Board of Education - Jere Krischel - 09/19/2023

Last month we had a dramatic farewell speech from a troubled child, who had spent 13 years in Forsyth County schools. Their perception was one characterized by sorrow and anger, and sadly, I believe that they are not alone in their deep seated resentment against the world at large.

But it doesn't have to be that way. Sorrow can come to us all, but how we react to it, is what determines whether or not we move forward with hope, or retreat into resentment. When we are taught to believe, that the solutions to our problems depend on forcing others to change their behaviors, we are creating learned helplessness, rather than resilience. When we are taught that our own actions are the largest part of solving our problems, we gain the tools of success against adversity.

Larry Elder often quotes his father, who said, “You get out of life what you put in it. You can’t always control the outcome, but you can control the effort. No matter how hard you work or how good you are, sometimes things will go wrong. Character is about how you react when they do.”

Now, this isn't to say that depression isn't a thing, or that cross-sex hormone treatments can't exacerbate mental health issues. Thankfully, here in Georgia, it is now illegal to chemically sterilize mentally ill children, and it could be that much of the resentment expressed last month, was a direct byproduct of medical malpractice. There are more and more notable cases of detransition coming to light as time goes by, and as those lawsuits move through the courts, we may hopefully hold the doctors and hospitals involved, accountable for their pediatric experiments.

That all being said, I have great hope for the future, and I want to give my sincere thanks to the Forsyth County School District for some great work. I was pleasantly surprised to hear my 4th grade daughter talk about a wonderful anti-bullying book being read in her class that she was really enjoying. "Way of the Warrior Kid", by the navy SEAL Jocko Willink, has no sexual content, does not focus on superficial identity groups, and promotes a strong, health positive narrative with the perfect dollop of brazilian jiu jitsu. It is exactly the kind of book that both liberals and conservatives should want their children to read in school, and should become required reading for all fourth graders in our district. I am grateful and proud that the school district my children attend, has teachers who share books that reduce resentment, and empower children, and focus on personal responsibility as a virtue. This is exactly the kind of education everyone, regardless of their own intersectional identities, should want for our children.

There are plenty of great books out there that handle challenging topics without being graphic. There are plenty of great books out there that resonate with everyone, and touch on universal human character, rather than crude stereotypes of feminine and masculine. These are the books we need to fill our libraries with.

I'd like to ask the Board to please make Jocko Willink's "Way of the Warrior Kid" a fundamental part of our anti-bullying programs, and again, adopt specific policies that let parents have a role in getting good books into our school libraries, in addition to the policies we have that help them get age-inappropriate books out of our school libraries.

And so on that note, thank you very much for your time, and again, I'd love to have lunch with anyone who disagrees with me.