1 00:00:03,600 --> 00:00:06,760 Speaker 1: When people ask me the sort of broad question, what's 2 00:00:06,800 --> 00:00:10,600 Speaker 1: wrong with with education in Oklahoma? We managed to languish 3 00:00:10,680 --> 00:00:14,480 Speaker 1: around fiftieth, sometimes up to forty seven, forty eighth in 4 00:00:14,520 --> 00:00:18,120 Speaker 1: the nation in almost all indicators. What's wrong with education 5 00:00:18,160 --> 00:00:21,439 Speaker 1: in Oklahoma? And I say something that kind of pisses 6 00:00:21,520 --> 00:00:24,200 Speaker 1: some people off sometimes. And what it is is, I say, 7 00:00:24,239 --> 00:00:25,840 Speaker 1: I don't think we love kids in Oklahoma. 8 00:00:26,640 --> 00:00:28,080 Speaker 2: What do you mean we don't love kids in Oklahoma? 9 00:00:28,120 --> 00:00:29,640 Speaker 1: I said, well, I don't think we love I think 10 00:00:29,680 --> 00:00:31,560 Speaker 1: empirically I can prove to you that we don't love 11 00:00:31,640 --> 00:00:34,680 Speaker 1: children in Oklahoma. I think we love our kids, and 12 00:00:34,720 --> 00:00:35,440 Speaker 1: those love. 13 00:00:35,360 --> 00:00:36,040 Speaker 3: Your own children. 14 00:00:36,120 --> 00:00:38,280 Speaker 1: Yeah, I'm not saying you don't love your kids or 15 00:00:38,320 --> 00:00:40,440 Speaker 1: those who play football your kids, or soccer your k 16 00:00:40,560 --> 00:00:42,000 Speaker 1: or go to church with your kids. I mean you 17 00:00:42,080 --> 00:00:44,559 Speaker 1: might even like some of those kids, but there is 18 00:00:44,960 --> 00:00:47,280 Speaker 1: a mountain of evidence to say we do not love 19 00:00:47,360 --> 00:00:48,000 Speaker 1: those kids. 20 00:00:51,040 --> 00:00:54,320 Speaker 3: Welcome to an army of normal folks. I'm Bill Courtney. 21 00:00:54,640 --> 00:00:57,320 Speaker 3: I'm a normal guy. I'm a husband, I'm a father, 22 00:00:57,560 --> 00:01:00,480 Speaker 3: I'm an entrepreneur, and I've been a football coach in 23 00:01:00,600 --> 00:01:03,720 Speaker 3: inner city Memphis. And that last part somehow led to 24 00:01:04,400 --> 00:01:07,559 Speaker 3: an oscar for the film about our team. That movie 25 00:01:07,680 --> 00:01:12,320 Speaker 3: is called Undefeated. Guys, I believe our country's problems are 26 00:01:12,480 --> 00:01:14,800 Speaker 3: never going to be solved by a bunch of fancy 27 00:01:14,880 --> 00:01:18,520 Speaker 3: people in nice suits using big words that nobody ever 28 00:01:18,680 --> 00:01:23,240 Speaker 3: uses on CNN and Fox, but rather by an army 29 00:01:23,440 --> 00:01:29,000 Speaker 3: of normal folks. Guys. That's us, just you and me deciding, Hey, 30 00:01:29,080 --> 00:01:32,920 Speaker 3: you know what, maybe I can help. That's what Chris Brewster, 31 00:01:33,080 --> 00:01:36,200 Speaker 3: the voice you just heard, has done. Chris has made 32 00:01:36,280 --> 00:01:42,000 Speaker 3: his life's work loving all kids in Oklahoma. He's the 33 00:01:42,080 --> 00:01:47,600 Speaker 3: founder of Santa Fe South Schools, the largest comprehensive charter 34 00:01:47,680 --> 00:01:53,480 Speaker 3: school in the state, with twelve different campuses serving five 35 00:01:54,240 --> 00:02:00,000 Speaker 3: thousand students, and they're achieving extraordinary results. I cannot wait 36 00:02:00,080 --> 00:02:02,720 Speaker 3: for you to meet Chris right after these brief messages 37 00:02:02,800 --> 00:02:15,359 Speaker 3: from our general sponsors. Chris Brewster, Welcome to Memphis. 38 00:02:15,560 --> 00:02:16,079 Speaker 2: Good morning. 39 00:02:16,240 --> 00:02:18,880 Speaker 3: What'd you find in last night? 40 00:02:18,919 --> 00:02:20,000 Speaker 2: Sometimes last night? 41 00:02:20,080 --> 00:02:24,120 Speaker 3: Sometimes? And I hear alex Is. Alex has told me 42 00:02:24,160 --> 00:02:25,560 Speaker 3: you got a busy day here in Memphis. 43 00:02:25,800 --> 00:02:28,639 Speaker 2: We do with some of your friends, Bill, we could 44 00:02:28,639 --> 00:02:29,120 Speaker 2: talk about it. 45 00:02:29,200 --> 00:02:31,359 Speaker 3: Yeah, so where you had it? After this? Do you 46 00:02:31,400 --> 00:02:31,679 Speaker 3: even know? 47 00:02:32,480 --> 00:02:34,840 Speaker 1: We're gonna do some work studying how you guys are 48 00:02:34,880 --> 00:02:37,520 Speaker 1: attacking the sort of the healthcare initiative, and. 49 00:02:37,720 --> 00:02:40,000 Speaker 3: So you're going to see Scott Morris and Churchill. 50 00:02:40,160 --> 00:02:40,680 Speaker 2: That's right. 51 00:02:40,840 --> 00:02:41,360 Speaker 3: Good. 52 00:02:41,560 --> 00:02:45,280 Speaker 1: Get to figure out how Memphis is solving for underinsured 53 00:02:45,360 --> 00:02:47,560 Speaker 1: or uninsured healthcare, especially for kids. 54 00:02:47,560 --> 00:02:48,040 Speaker 2: That's mine. 55 00:02:48,080 --> 00:02:50,280 Speaker 3: I think you're going to be floored. Yeah, I think. 56 00:02:50,600 --> 00:02:52,440 Speaker 3: Do you know much about the facility. 57 00:02:52,520 --> 00:02:54,680 Speaker 1: I've been to Memphis a couple of times looking at 58 00:02:54,680 --> 00:02:56,800 Speaker 1: some of the ED reform stuff here, and I visit 59 00:02:56,840 --> 00:02:59,840 Speaker 1: their Crosstown concourse because we're looking, you know, at them 60 00:02:59,840 --> 00:03:02,640 Speaker 1: all project, but never looked at any of the healthcare. 61 00:03:02,720 --> 00:03:04,960 Speaker 1: So I'm excited about that. I've been learning and rereading. 62 00:03:05,320 --> 00:03:09,960 Speaker 3: It's pretty impressive. We'll get to that later in your story, everybody. 63 00:03:11,320 --> 00:03:16,040 Speaker 3: Chris is from Oklahoma City and he is the pastor 64 00:03:16,080 --> 00:03:19,000 Speaker 3: of the Well, which is a Southern Baptist church, which 65 00:03:19,560 --> 00:03:22,000 Speaker 3: I don't think he's handling snakes or anything, but it's 66 00:03:22,000 --> 00:03:25,520 Speaker 3: still Southern Baptist. I don't know you handling snakes. 67 00:03:25,240 --> 00:03:27,919 Speaker 1: Well, not unless they get in the building. Then they 68 00:03:27,919 --> 00:03:29,880 Speaker 1: tell me there's a snake in the building. 69 00:03:30,200 --> 00:03:32,600 Speaker 3: It's just, you know, I'm a Presbyterian. I gotta you know, 70 00:03:33,080 --> 00:03:35,720 Speaker 3: think about you know, I'm sure you think we're heathens, 71 00:03:35,760 --> 00:03:40,080 Speaker 3: all right, And so then, for the purposes of our 72 00:03:40,200 --> 00:03:44,920 Speaker 3: time together today, and very impressively, folks, he is the 73 00:03:45,000 --> 00:03:50,240 Speaker 3: founder and superintendent of Santa Fe South Schools. Spoiler alert, 74 00:03:50,960 --> 00:03:55,600 Speaker 3: he founded it. It's a charter school organization. And we'll 75 00:03:55,600 --> 00:03:59,920 Speaker 3: get into all of how a pastor is a super 76 00:04:00,080 --> 00:04:05,800 Speaker 3: intendent of schools and all of it. And before we start, 77 00:04:06,120 --> 00:04:08,800 Speaker 3: I want to say that I love all of our 78 00:04:08,840 --> 00:04:12,880 Speaker 3: interviews and guests, but your work is near and dear 79 00:04:12,920 --> 00:04:17,520 Speaker 3: to my heart because your focus is on schools and children, yep, 80 00:04:17,640 --> 00:04:20,679 Speaker 3: which is what I've spent the last thirty five years 81 00:04:20,680 --> 00:04:24,400 Speaker 3: of my life engaged with. So I feel like we're 82 00:04:24,440 --> 00:04:27,719 Speaker 3: probably gonna reveal that we're kindred spirits by the end 83 00:04:27,760 --> 00:04:32,440 Speaker 3: of this chat. And I'm genuinely very excited to visit 84 00:04:32,480 --> 00:04:35,520 Speaker 3: with you today and I can't wait to hear I 85 00:04:35,560 --> 00:04:38,119 Speaker 3: can't wait to learn from what you have to share 86 00:04:38,160 --> 00:04:43,880 Speaker 3: with me and our audience. So first though, tell me 87 00:04:43,880 --> 00:04:47,160 Speaker 3: about you. You know, where are you from? Tell me 88 00:04:47,640 --> 00:04:50,600 Speaker 3: tell me how you kind of came around and your 89 00:04:50,640 --> 00:04:54,480 Speaker 3: story kind of picks up when you start teaching. But 90 00:04:54,600 --> 00:04:55,359 Speaker 3: get us there. 91 00:04:56,560 --> 00:05:01,840 Speaker 1: Well, my daddy's in Okie, for the Bixby area in Oklahoma, 92 00:05:02,560 --> 00:05:06,400 Speaker 1: and my mom is from southeast Missouri. If you're from Missouri, 93 00:05:06,480 --> 00:05:07,120 Speaker 1: U say in Missouri. 94 00:05:07,279 --> 00:05:09,800 Speaker 3: I thought there was an eye on the end of 95 00:05:09,800 --> 00:05:10,200 Speaker 3: that word. 96 00:05:10,279 --> 00:05:14,280 Speaker 1: Not for real folks from but I love it the 97 00:05:14,680 --> 00:05:17,760 Speaker 1: show me state folks will understand that. But they met 98 00:05:18,000 --> 00:05:21,880 Speaker 1: in college at OBU and Oklama Baptist University in Shawnee, Oklahoma. 99 00:05:22,240 --> 00:05:25,360 Speaker 1: And my dad came from the kind of family that 100 00:05:26,560 --> 00:05:29,520 Speaker 1: my mom's family probably would not have been supportive of. 101 00:05:29,920 --> 00:05:36,040 Speaker 1: He came from alcoholic, divorced family, a lot of issues. 102 00:05:36,120 --> 00:05:38,600 Speaker 1: My grandpa was a high steel worker who traveled around 103 00:05:38,680 --> 00:05:42,320 Speaker 1: all over the country building skyscrapers and dams and stuff, 104 00:05:42,320 --> 00:05:45,480 Speaker 1: and was a functioning alcoholic, and so it was hard 105 00:05:45,520 --> 00:05:49,560 Speaker 1: on the family. But yeah, my grandpa was a only 106 00:05:49,600 --> 00:05:51,200 Speaker 1: met him once, but he was a tough man. He 107 00:05:51,279 --> 00:05:53,880 Speaker 1: used to My dad would would talk about the way 108 00:05:53,920 --> 00:05:57,080 Speaker 1: that he and his crew would work were drunk because 109 00:05:57,080 --> 00:05:59,000 Speaker 1: it would stabilize their nerves to be up on top 110 00:05:59,040 --> 00:05:59,640 Speaker 1: of the building. 111 00:06:00,960 --> 00:06:04,000 Speaker 3: Forget what alcohol may do to your balance, logger ground 112 00:06:04,000 --> 00:06:06,159 Speaker 3: out there, but at least we're not nervous when we're there. 113 00:06:06,320 --> 00:06:10,440 Speaker 1: Not nervous, not in an Osha approved a safety technique 114 00:06:10,480 --> 00:06:10,839 Speaker 1: for sure. 115 00:06:11,080 --> 00:06:11,520 Speaker 3: For sure. 116 00:06:11,560 --> 00:06:13,400 Speaker 1: So I grew up here in the stories of you know, 117 00:06:13,480 --> 00:06:17,640 Speaker 1: my dad's upbringing, and he was he was saved. He 118 00:06:18,240 --> 00:06:21,120 Speaker 1: found a relationship with God as a as a young man, 119 00:06:22,000 --> 00:06:24,600 Speaker 1: was mentored and really kind of found his own way. 120 00:06:25,000 --> 00:06:25,920 Speaker 2: My dad's a tough man. 121 00:06:25,960 --> 00:06:29,760 Speaker 1: He's one of my heroes, probably my main earthly hero 122 00:06:30,600 --> 00:06:33,920 Speaker 1: to come from the background he came from. He had 123 00:06:33,920 --> 00:06:39,200 Speaker 1: a learning disability, put himself through he was college, Yeah, 124 00:06:39,279 --> 00:06:42,960 Speaker 1: put himself through college, through graduate school, married way up, 125 00:06:43,120 --> 00:06:44,600 Speaker 1: like he's taught all of his boys to do the 126 00:06:44,600 --> 00:06:45,000 Speaker 1: same thing. 127 00:06:45,040 --> 00:06:46,080 Speaker 2: We've all married way up. 128 00:06:46,240 --> 00:06:46,440 Speaker 3: Yeah. 129 00:06:46,680 --> 00:06:49,720 Speaker 1: Uh. And both he and my mom felt a call 130 00:06:49,800 --> 00:06:53,640 Speaker 1: to serve overseas at some point and served in local 131 00:06:53,720 --> 00:06:57,240 Speaker 1: churches until seventy six or so when they went to 132 00:06:57,240 --> 00:06:59,880 Speaker 1: the Philippines. I was born in Kansas City and lived 133 00:06:59,880 --> 00:07:03,400 Speaker 1: in Topeka, Kansas and a few places around the Midwest 134 00:07:03,480 --> 00:07:06,719 Speaker 1: until the last church they served in the US was 135 00:07:06,839 --> 00:07:10,200 Speaker 1: in Connewingham, Maryland, and so we left the East Coast 136 00:07:10,240 --> 00:07:11,520 Speaker 1: and went to the Philippines. I grew up in the 137 00:07:11,520 --> 00:07:15,360 Speaker 1: Philippines from about second grade on until I graduated from 138 00:07:15,440 --> 00:07:16,440 Speaker 1: high school and came back. 139 00:07:16,560 --> 00:07:19,480 Speaker 3: I don't think I realized that. So you grew up 140 00:07:19,520 --> 00:07:21,760 Speaker 3: and lived in the Philippines from the second grade till 141 00:07:21,800 --> 00:07:22,720 Speaker 3: the end of high school. 142 00:07:22,800 --> 00:07:24,080 Speaker 2: Yeah, I was a missionary kid. 143 00:07:25,000 --> 00:07:27,440 Speaker 1: My siblings and I grew up around people like my 144 00:07:27,520 --> 00:07:31,000 Speaker 1: parents who were highly educated, extremely talented, who spent their 145 00:07:31,000 --> 00:07:31,840 Speaker 1: life in service. 146 00:07:31,920 --> 00:07:34,600 Speaker 2: That's what they did. How many siblings, I've got three, 147 00:07:34,760 --> 00:07:36,119 Speaker 2: so two brothers and a sister. 148 00:07:36,760 --> 00:07:43,960 Speaker 3: And what is it like as an American Anglo Saxon 149 00:07:44,200 --> 00:07:48,120 Speaker 3: kid spending your entire childhood in a place like the 150 00:07:48,120 --> 00:07:50,560 Speaker 3: Philippines because you are a minority. 151 00:07:50,640 --> 00:07:54,640 Speaker 1: Yeah, it was really My minority experience was radically different 152 00:07:54,680 --> 00:07:56,960 Speaker 1: than the minority experience in the US, which is part 153 00:07:57,000 --> 00:08:01,080 Speaker 1: of my sort of the arc of my story was 154 00:08:01,120 --> 00:08:04,000 Speaker 1: formed early because we were accepted and loved and cared 155 00:08:04,040 --> 00:08:09,080 Speaker 1: for as a minority and honored by the Filipino people. 156 00:08:09,480 --> 00:08:14,160 Speaker 1: I treated with tremendous hospitality and graciousness. They had had 157 00:08:14,160 --> 00:08:18,080 Speaker 1: a deep loyalty to Americans since they were liberated during 158 00:08:18,080 --> 00:08:20,520 Speaker 1: World War two General MacArthur and I. 159 00:08:20,440 --> 00:08:22,600 Speaker 3: Was say, MacArthur's still a hero. 160 00:08:22,640 --> 00:08:23,520 Speaker 2: Still a hero? Right? 161 00:08:23,600 --> 00:08:25,600 Speaker 1: So I grew I grew up in a society that 162 00:08:26,960 --> 00:08:31,280 Speaker 1: revered America and honored those that would come, especially those 163 00:08:31,280 --> 00:08:34,280 Speaker 1: were missionaries that would come and genuinely serve to help 164 00:08:34,360 --> 00:08:37,360 Speaker 1: other people. So my minority experience was very different than 165 00:08:37,360 --> 00:08:39,720 Speaker 1: when I came back to go to college here in 166 00:08:39,720 --> 00:08:42,760 Speaker 1: the US, and I saw a really different approach to 167 00:08:42,800 --> 00:08:46,520 Speaker 1: how minorities are treated in the country that I have 168 00:08:46,600 --> 00:08:48,040 Speaker 1: been taught with the Land of the Free and Home 169 00:08:48,080 --> 00:08:50,880 Speaker 1: of the brave, and it was very patriotic in my upbringing, 170 00:08:50,920 --> 00:08:52,600 Speaker 1: but I'd never really lived in the US, so when 171 00:08:52,600 --> 00:08:55,200 Speaker 1: I came back, it was jarring to me to see 172 00:08:55,960 --> 00:08:59,640 Speaker 1: the sort of radical inequity in society. But even in 173 00:08:59,679 --> 00:09:02,600 Speaker 1: the church, it's like what's going on on Sunday Morning. 174 00:09:02,880 --> 00:09:09,120 Speaker 1: We're radically segregated, socioeconomically divided. And after about one year 175 00:09:09,160 --> 00:09:12,320 Speaker 1: back in the States, I was like, I'm done with this. 176 00:09:12,480 --> 00:09:13,280 Speaker 2: I got to go back. 177 00:09:13,480 --> 00:09:18,080 Speaker 1: I gotta go somewhere else, because this country doesn't have 178 00:09:18,160 --> 00:09:21,560 Speaker 1: this thing right, and this is supposed to be a 179 00:09:21,640 --> 00:09:25,960 Speaker 1: country founded on, you know, Christian principles. There's this disconnect 180 00:09:26,000 --> 00:09:28,679 Speaker 1: between what I grew up hearing for the foundation of 181 00:09:28,760 --> 00:09:33,840 Speaker 1: principles and the reality of vast swaths of kids who 182 00:09:33,920 --> 00:09:37,960 Speaker 1: just didn't have opportunity and mostly black and brown kids. 183 00:09:38,360 --> 00:09:41,480 Speaker 1: So it was culture shock, but it was not culture 184 00:09:41,520 --> 00:09:44,760 Speaker 1: shock about food and clothing and music. It was about like, 185 00:09:45,320 --> 00:09:47,760 Speaker 1: what the heck is going on? This is the richest 186 00:09:47,800 --> 00:09:52,800 Speaker 1: country in the world, but we have this entire like subculture. 187 00:09:53,640 --> 00:09:55,560 Speaker 1: In fact, the majority of kids I was around were 188 00:09:55,760 --> 00:09:59,480 Speaker 1: underserved and under resource compared to those like me who 189 00:09:59,480 --> 00:10:02,120 Speaker 1: were white and had opportunity to go to college and 190 00:10:02,120 --> 00:10:02,920 Speaker 1: those types of things. 191 00:10:02,920 --> 00:10:07,000 Speaker 2: So that began to really kind of to shake my world. 192 00:10:06,760 --> 00:10:09,000 Speaker 3: When I came this happened your first year back. 193 00:10:08,800 --> 00:10:11,760 Speaker 2: Freshman year in college or were you in college Ocoma 194 00:10:11,800 --> 00:10:13,920 Speaker 2: Baptist University studying music education. 195 00:10:13,920 --> 00:10:16,800 Speaker 3: I want to be a teacher, but you're a freshman 196 00:10:16,800 --> 00:10:19,760 Speaker 3: in college. I mean, how are you even getting exposed 197 00:10:20,520 --> 00:10:21,800 Speaker 3: to this culture shock? 198 00:10:22,080 --> 00:10:24,200 Speaker 1: Well, I just looked around, right, I would go to 199 00:10:24,280 --> 00:10:26,440 Speaker 1: church and it was all people that looked like me. Right, 200 00:10:26,840 --> 00:10:29,120 Speaker 1: I had grown up and I knew there were black 201 00:10:29,160 --> 00:10:31,280 Speaker 1: and brown people in the town I was in. And 202 00:10:31,320 --> 00:10:33,640 Speaker 1: then I began to look at the school system in 203 00:10:33,679 --> 00:10:38,160 Speaker 1: Oklahoma and see just starting to understand like there are 204 00:10:38,160 --> 00:10:40,200 Speaker 1: some people who always do well and a whole bunch 205 00:10:40,200 --> 00:10:43,240 Speaker 1: of people who never do well, and there's no there's 206 00:10:43,280 --> 00:10:46,640 Speaker 1: no real approach to how we bring these things together. 207 00:10:46,880 --> 00:10:50,640 Speaker 1: I didn't understand anything really about, you know, the vast 208 00:10:50,640 --> 00:10:55,040 Speaker 1: academic outcome differential between whites and blacks or Hispanics. I 209 00:10:55,040 --> 00:10:57,199 Speaker 1: didn't understand what was going on, but it was beginning 210 00:10:57,200 --> 00:10:59,839 Speaker 1: to sort of bubble up in me, especially through the Church, 211 00:11:00,679 --> 00:11:04,360 Speaker 1: that we were not a United States at this point. 212 00:11:04,440 --> 00:11:08,160 Speaker 1: We were very divided, and the main devide was socioeconomic. 213 00:11:08,200 --> 00:11:11,360 Speaker 1: But it tends to be, of course, concentrated in minority 214 00:11:11,400 --> 00:11:16,360 Speaker 1: populations who who maintain that sort of level of poverty, 215 00:11:16,559 --> 00:11:19,720 Speaker 1: like generation after generations. I would just sort of waking 216 00:11:19,800 --> 00:11:23,040 Speaker 1: up to these things, and my experience had been very different, Coach, 217 00:11:23,080 --> 00:11:25,880 Speaker 1: than what I was experiencing as a majority. 218 00:11:26,360 --> 00:11:30,360 Speaker 3: Well, and I guess i'm you know, those of us 219 00:11:30,400 --> 00:11:32,679 Speaker 3: who don't grow up in the Philippines, which is ninety 220 00:11:32,760 --> 00:11:35,600 Speaker 3: nine point nine point nine percent of us. I guess 221 00:11:36,000 --> 00:11:39,840 Speaker 3: I can't help but listening to you, wondering if we 222 00:11:39,960 --> 00:11:43,560 Speaker 3: see it too. But because it is so common, we 223 00:11:43,679 --> 00:11:49,520 Speaker 3: get to sensitize to its wickedness. Yeah, and because you 224 00:11:49,640 --> 00:11:52,240 Speaker 3: didn't see it growing up, you were hitting a face 225 00:11:52,280 --> 00:11:52,960 Speaker 3: stark with it. 226 00:11:53,200 --> 00:11:53,400 Speaker 2: Yeah. 227 00:11:53,440 --> 00:11:56,800 Speaker 1: They describe kids like us as green culture kids. 228 00:11:57,120 --> 00:11:58,880 Speaker 2: Is what green culture. 229 00:11:58,559 --> 00:12:02,319 Speaker 3: Kids, green kids or missionary kids. 230 00:12:02,360 --> 00:12:03,959 Speaker 2: Yeah, and some of those military kids. 231 00:12:04,080 --> 00:12:07,160 Speaker 1: Your parents are a blue culture and they take you 232 00:12:07,200 --> 00:12:10,199 Speaker 1: to a yellow culture and you become this sort of combination. 233 00:12:11,040 --> 00:12:14,079 Speaker 1: You don't fit in either anymore. Right, I'm not a Filipino, 234 00:12:14,200 --> 00:12:17,120 Speaker 1: but I love the Philippines, but I also see the 235 00:12:17,200 --> 00:12:21,480 Speaker 1: real problems with government and poverty and corruption there. And 236 00:12:22,440 --> 00:12:25,319 Speaker 1: I love American I'm an American, but man, I can 237 00:12:25,400 --> 00:12:29,040 Speaker 1: see with real clarity what the real issues are because 238 00:12:29,040 --> 00:12:30,400 Speaker 1: I grew up outside of the culture. 239 00:12:30,880 --> 00:12:32,679 Speaker 2: So my loyalty might be to. 240 00:12:34,120 --> 00:12:37,560 Speaker 1: The American concept and American ideal, but not to the 241 00:12:37,600 --> 00:12:41,120 Speaker 1: embedded systems unless they're a part of helping. So I 242 00:12:41,120 --> 00:12:44,200 Speaker 1: think missionary kids get this sort of weird worldview that 243 00:12:44,720 --> 00:12:47,120 Speaker 1: helps you see some things. The other side of that 244 00:12:47,240 --> 00:12:50,200 Speaker 1: is you just don't. You don't fit in anywhere anymore. 245 00:12:50,400 --> 00:12:55,520 Speaker 3: Now, that's really really interesting. That's also in some ways 246 00:12:55,880 --> 00:12:59,319 Speaker 3: a tax that missionary kids pay for their children's service. 247 00:12:59,440 --> 00:13:02,920 Speaker 1: Yeah, that's eas exactly right. That's another whole podcast for you, coach. 248 00:13:02,960 --> 00:13:07,160 Speaker 1: When you talked to I didn't realize what my parents 249 00:13:07,200 --> 00:13:12,600 Speaker 1: had sacrificed. Well, in all different ways, but especially that piece. 250 00:13:12,600 --> 00:13:16,440 Speaker 1: It was related to their kids. Now, I didn't grow 251 00:13:16,520 --> 00:13:19,960 Speaker 1: up impoverished in any way, mind, body, or spirit, but 252 00:13:20,080 --> 00:13:23,640 Speaker 1: there were some real sacrifices growing up outside of your culture, 253 00:13:23,679 --> 00:13:26,480 Speaker 1: being educated outside of your culture. And then I left 254 00:13:26,480 --> 00:13:29,079 Speaker 1: home at fourteen to go to boarding school, so they 255 00:13:29,200 --> 00:13:31,760 Speaker 1: lost me. And then I left again to go to college, 256 00:13:31,760 --> 00:13:33,600 Speaker 1: so I moved out of the house when I was fourteen. 257 00:13:34,400 --> 00:13:37,760 Speaker 1: They were sacrificing that relationship in proximity so I could 258 00:13:37,800 --> 00:13:41,040 Speaker 1: be well educated and go to Missionary Kids School for 259 00:13:41,120 --> 00:13:43,880 Speaker 1: high school and then off to college. So there's an 260 00:13:43,880 --> 00:13:49,080 Speaker 1: interesting piece there as well. 261 00:13:49,120 --> 00:13:52,640 Speaker 3: And now a few messages from our general sponsors. But first, 262 00:13:53,240 --> 00:13:57,080 Speaker 3: are you following us on Instagram more than likely or not? 263 00:13:57,320 --> 00:14:00,760 Speaker 3: But you should be because it's awesome and we're cool. 264 00:14:01,400 --> 00:14:04,920 Speaker 3: We've briefly mentioned a few times this cool normal Folks 265 00:14:04,960 --> 00:14:08,920 Speaker 3: Wisdom feature that we've started doing there, where we distill 266 00:14:09,080 --> 00:14:12,800 Speaker 3: down the most powerful points, data and quotes from our 267 00:14:12,840 --> 00:14:18,640 Speaker 3: guests into punchy text because normal folks got wisdom too, 268 00:14:19,080 --> 00:14:20,880 Speaker 3: and it's fun and a quick way of getting it 269 00:14:20,920 --> 00:14:24,040 Speaker 3: from them. I've even started writing them out on a 270 00:14:24,080 --> 00:14:27,240 Speaker 3: coach's clipboard because I'm a coach and you guys need 271 00:14:27,280 --> 00:14:31,560 Speaker 3: to see graphics, and they are high faluting graphics. So 272 00:14:32,480 --> 00:14:37,520 Speaker 3: get on it. Follow us on Instagram at Army of 273 00:14:37,640 --> 00:14:41,840 Speaker 3: Normal Folks to check out Normal Folks Wisdom and other 274 00:14:42,000 --> 00:14:57,280 Speaker 3: inspirational content. We'll be right back. Yeah. But I think 275 00:14:57,320 --> 00:15:00,880 Speaker 3: you're discounting your own sacrifice there, even though you weren't 276 00:15:00,920 --> 00:15:05,640 Speaker 3: making it cognitively as a kid. But I'm just saying, 277 00:15:05,760 --> 00:15:08,760 Speaker 3: for the level of service a missionary does, I think 278 00:15:08,800 --> 00:15:12,440 Speaker 3: the children are also paying some of that taxes. I 279 00:15:12,480 --> 00:15:13,000 Speaker 3: hear you. 280 00:15:13,200 --> 00:15:15,880 Speaker 1: There's a lot of a lot of work being done 281 00:15:15,920 --> 00:15:19,560 Speaker 1: around the trauma that some missionary kids have gone through. 282 00:15:21,120 --> 00:15:25,240 Speaker 1: I know many of my peers went through some real struggles. 283 00:15:24,720 --> 00:15:26,320 Speaker 3: Which is the mere fact that you have your own 284 00:15:26,400 --> 00:15:30,760 Speaker 3: term green culture kids. Yeah, that's interesting. So this green 285 00:15:30,840 --> 00:15:36,200 Speaker 3: culture kid comes back to go to I'm sorry, Okloma. 286 00:15:35,760 --> 00:15:41,880 Speaker 1: Baptist comb A Babtist University ob Obu Southern Baptists ob Bison. 287 00:15:42,040 --> 00:15:45,080 Speaker 3: There we go, Tobu Bison. So there you are, and 288 00:15:45,200 --> 00:15:48,400 Speaker 3: you want to go into education chart Lotok, around the church, 289 00:15:48,520 --> 00:15:55,040 Speaker 3: start to look around society, and you're taken aback by 290 00:15:55,760 --> 00:15:59,440 Speaker 3: what you grew up believing the America culture is versus 291 00:15:59,440 --> 00:15:59,960 Speaker 3: the reality. 292 00:16:00,240 --> 00:16:04,440 Speaker 1: Yeah, so again my heroes or role models through high 293 00:16:04,440 --> 00:16:07,160 Speaker 1: school where my coaches and my teachers. So didn't really 294 00:16:07,280 --> 00:16:10,600 Speaker 1: know what I wanted to do, but I knew the 295 00:16:10,720 --> 00:16:12,880 Speaker 1: kind of people who'd had the best or the most 296 00:16:12,920 --> 00:16:15,440 Speaker 1: profound impact in my life for my coaches and my teachers, 297 00:16:15,480 --> 00:16:19,160 Speaker 1: so that's not unfamiliar with So I said, well, I 298 00:16:19,240 --> 00:16:22,000 Speaker 1: want to be a coaching teacher. In fact, it's exactly 299 00:16:22,080 --> 00:16:23,600 Speaker 1: why I was in the coach and these were the 300 00:16:23,680 --> 00:16:27,560 Speaker 1: people that like formed me. So I thought, well, if 301 00:16:27,640 --> 00:16:29,240 Speaker 1: I can ever be called coach, it's like. 302 00:16:29,320 --> 00:16:30,720 Speaker 2: The highest you know. 303 00:16:31,240 --> 00:16:33,280 Speaker 1: I think it's one of the greatest titles you can 304 00:16:33,320 --> 00:16:37,960 Speaker 1: ever get. So I sought out opportunities to teach. As 305 00:16:38,000 --> 00:16:41,560 Speaker 1: I graduated in the inner city of Oklahoma City in 306 00:16:41,600 --> 00:16:44,400 Speaker 1: a place called Capitol Hill High School and Capitol Hill 307 00:16:44,480 --> 00:16:47,680 Speaker 1: High School as there were the Redskins at that point 308 00:16:47,680 --> 00:16:51,440 Speaker 1: before they changed their name. But the Redskins were a 309 00:16:51,560 --> 00:16:55,400 Speaker 1: typical inner city urban environment. They'd been abandoned as white flight, 310 00:16:55,560 --> 00:16:59,320 Speaker 1: sort of empty of the neighborhood, and there was no 311 00:16:59,560 --> 00:17:02,200 Speaker 1: pressure on the system to improve, and so it declined 312 00:17:02,280 --> 00:17:07,640 Speaker 1: and academic outcomes were horrendous. Gangs were rampant at that point, early. 313 00:17:07,720 --> 00:17:08,440 Speaker 3: Now are you teaching? 314 00:17:08,760 --> 00:17:12,280 Speaker 1: I was teaching music, good grief, Yeah, coaching wrestling and 315 00:17:12,320 --> 00:17:13,280 Speaker 1: soccer and volleyball. 316 00:17:14,400 --> 00:17:17,560 Speaker 2: So I had you would appreciate this when. 317 00:17:18,920 --> 00:17:22,320 Speaker 1: You didn't really have to be in my acchoir just 318 00:17:22,840 --> 00:17:25,760 Speaker 1: to play, but if you wanted to improve your chances 319 00:17:26,680 --> 00:17:29,480 Speaker 1: that that I understood your your skill set, you were 320 00:17:29,520 --> 00:17:30,240 Speaker 1: going to be in my choir. 321 00:17:30,440 --> 00:17:35,200 Speaker 3: My first teaching job, I started a chess team. Yeah yeah, 322 00:17:36,160 --> 00:17:38,639 Speaker 3: And I played jess in high school as well as 323 00:17:38,720 --> 00:17:44,200 Speaker 3: everything else I did right sports wise, and the statistics 324 00:17:44,240 --> 00:17:47,359 Speaker 3: and the data so say, and they prove out that 325 00:17:47,560 --> 00:17:53,800 Speaker 3: playing chess actually makes you smarter, not increases your intelligent quotion, 326 00:17:54,800 --> 00:17:57,800 Speaker 3: but it teaches you to be boy analytical. It teaches 327 00:17:57,840 --> 00:18:03,440 Speaker 3: you to think ahead, and it probes your brain activity 328 00:18:03,680 --> 00:18:10,159 Speaker 3: that actually helps yep, all right, study, concentration, everything. So 329 00:18:10,920 --> 00:18:14,040 Speaker 3: I had a chess team at a club that grew 330 00:18:14,200 --> 00:18:17,600 Speaker 3: to fifty six and there were the twelve kids that 331 00:18:17,880 --> 00:18:20,480 Speaker 3: really wanted to play chess, and then the rest of 332 00:18:20,560 --> 00:18:26,080 Speaker 3: the football team that decided ola see if I played chess, coach, 333 00:18:26,160 --> 00:18:28,800 Speaker 3: will let me play football? If you have? 334 00:18:29,400 --> 00:18:31,960 Speaker 1: If I could have brought a picture of my choirs 335 00:18:32,040 --> 00:18:35,480 Speaker 1: during those days, and this will speak to you, because 336 00:18:35,840 --> 00:18:38,040 Speaker 1: I was like, I was talking to football coaches and 337 00:18:38,119 --> 00:18:40,480 Speaker 1: they're like, yeah, you're a soccer boy, we're not talking 338 00:18:40,520 --> 00:18:42,960 Speaker 1: to I said, I'll take care of your athletes, get 339 00:18:43,000 --> 00:18:43,320 Speaker 1: them in my. 340 00:18:43,680 --> 00:18:45,920 Speaker 3: In the nineties, back in the night. Well, coaches today 341 00:18:46,000 --> 00:18:49,520 Speaker 3: love soccer guys. They do now well, they well and 342 00:18:50,200 --> 00:18:52,600 Speaker 3: typically are pretty tough and pretty good skill players. 343 00:18:52,720 --> 00:18:54,960 Speaker 1: At that point, they were like, they made us play 344 00:18:55,040 --> 00:18:57,200 Speaker 1: soccer in the spring just so it wouldn't interfere with 345 00:18:57,280 --> 00:19:00,720 Speaker 1: football in Oklahoma. So they're like, you're the soccer I 346 00:19:00,720 --> 00:19:03,960 Speaker 1: don't know, but we we start to recruit these kids, 347 00:19:04,000 --> 00:19:06,639 Speaker 1: and I've got the whole football team, and I've got 348 00:19:06,720 --> 00:19:08,800 Speaker 1: most of the basketball team and all my soccer guys, 349 00:19:09,359 --> 00:19:11,479 Speaker 1: and I have when I left Capitol Hill had two 350 00:19:11,560 --> 00:19:13,879 Speaker 1: hundred and seventy six kids in the choir. 351 00:19:16,520 --> 00:19:18,440 Speaker 2: A third of the school was in my choir. 352 00:19:18,880 --> 00:19:19,560 Speaker 3: I love it. 353 00:19:19,800 --> 00:19:21,680 Speaker 2: And we were not very good, but we were loud. 354 00:19:21,840 --> 00:19:22,480 Speaker 3: I bet you were. 355 00:19:22,600 --> 00:19:25,880 Speaker 1: And when we rolled into choir competition, I mean, I've 356 00:19:25,920 --> 00:19:28,920 Speaker 1: got blindmen in their choir robes, right, I mean, these 357 00:19:28,920 --> 00:19:30,240 Speaker 1: guys were huge. 358 00:19:30,560 --> 00:19:32,560 Speaker 2: We filled it and nobody. 359 00:19:33,400 --> 00:19:35,520 Speaker 1: Everybody was polite and kind to us because we rolled 360 00:19:35,520 --> 00:19:38,439 Speaker 1: in I mean deep getting off that bus. But they 361 00:19:38,440 --> 00:19:42,840 Speaker 1: weren't little, skinny choir kids. These were enormous athletes. And 362 00:19:43,040 --> 00:19:45,159 Speaker 1: it was funny because we nobody ever made fun of us, 363 00:19:45,240 --> 00:19:46,040 Speaker 1: Nobody ever say. 364 00:19:45,920 --> 00:19:49,520 Speaker 3: Anything I mean to us, don't mess with the choir. 365 00:19:49,640 --> 00:19:51,960 Speaker 1: The Capitol Hill showed up, everybody sat quietly while we 366 00:19:52,000 --> 00:19:54,000 Speaker 1: made our joyful noise, and then we got back on 367 00:19:54,080 --> 00:19:56,000 Speaker 1: the bus and then went back to school. 368 00:19:56,160 --> 00:20:01,479 Speaker 3: So all right, so you're here, but you're kind of angry. 369 00:20:02,040 --> 00:20:07,800 Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, I didn't even really know why I was 370 00:20:07,840 --> 00:20:08,520 Speaker 2: so agitated. 371 00:20:08,560 --> 00:20:11,480 Speaker 1: I didn't I just saw inequity but had no concept 372 00:20:11,560 --> 00:20:14,440 Speaker 1: of the depth or hadn't quantified it, or I didn't 373 00:20:14,480 --> 00:20:15,679 Speaker 1: understand we. 374 00:20:15,760 --> 00:20:18,720 Speaker 2: Were poor, but we didn't know we were poor. 375 00:20:19,040 --> 00:20:21,320 Speaker 1: I mean, like to this day, my favorite foods are 376 00:20:21,359 --> 00:20:25,040 Speaker 1: those things that we would consider, you know, poor people food. 377 00:20:25,200 --> 00:20:27,720 Speaker 2: So I corn bread, and I like. 378 00:20:27,840 --> 00:20:31,399 Speaker 1: Cabbage, and I like all of these things that my 379 00:20:31,600 --> 00:20:33,920 Speaker 1: mom made feel like home food. But they were actually 380 00:20:34,040 --> 00:20:36,520 Speaker 1: just affordable food. So we didn't have any kind of 381 00:20:38,119 --> 00:20:41,200 Speaker 1: poverty per se and how much money. But when I 382 00:20:41,320 --> 00:20:44,960 Speaker 1: began to understand what real poverty was, that that subsistence 383 00:20:45,119 --> 00:20:50,439 Speaker 1: living cycle that so degrades the human experience. 384 00:20:51,160 --> 00:20:52,280 Speaker 2: It was like, are you kidding? 385 00:20:52,359 --> 00:20:52,479 Speaker 3: Man? 386 00:20:52,600 --> 00:20:54,959 Speaker 1: These kids just to get up and show up at school. 387 00:20:55,520 --> 00:21:00,520 Speaker 1: There's an enormous conquest every single day they had food 388 00:21:00,600 --> 00:21:02,920 Speaker 1: or not they're in school. Like, how in the world 389 00:21:02,960 --> 00:21:06,840 Speaker 1: do you talk about act scores when I mean there's 390 00:21:07,000 --> 00:21:09,040 Speaker 1: just chaos around the situation. 391 00:21:09,359 --> 00:21:12,440 Speaker 3: Alex has encouraged me not to pontificate too much, but 392 00:21:12,600 --> 00:21:15,360 Speaker 3: too bad. It's my show. I know about what you're 393 00:21:15,440 --> 00:21:17,879 Speaker 3: about to say. We've already said it in like five podcasts. 394 00:21:19,320 --> 00:21:19,920 Speaker 2: I want to hear it. 395 00:21:20,000 --> 00:21:23,479 Speaker 3: I want to share it with you. We interviewed our 396 00:21:23,520 --> 00:21:26,840 Speaker 3: Shae Cooper and do you know our se I do not. 397 00:21:27,480 --> 00:21:32,160 Speaker 3: We interviewed our See Cooper from Chicago. He long story short, 398 00:21:32,200 --> 00:21:35,320 Speaker 3: he started a rowing team in the inner city. 399 00:21:35,480 --> 00:21:36,800 Speaker 2: Ye just imagine that. 400 00:21:37,000 --> 00:21:38,960 Speaker 1: Yeah, we've got one to Actually, ours has been big 401 00:21:39,000 --> 00:21:41,560 Speaker 1: in Oklahoma City, so I think it's been Urche helping. 402 00:21:41,640 --> 00:21:43,359 Speaker 2: He actually was just in town last week with the 403 00:21:43,400 --> 00:21:44,440 Speaker 2: mayor with the rowing. 404 00:21:44,560 --> 00:21:50,280 Speaker 3: Yeah, yeah, we've got to connect with our Anyway, he 405 00:21:50,400 --> 00:21:54,360 Speaker 3: grew up in the projects, and he grew up going 406 00:21:54,440 --> 00:21:59,320 Speaker 3: to school passing prostitutes, starning tricks and alleys which he 407 00:21:59,359 --> 00:22:03,240 Speaker 3: could see as a child literally stepping over pools of blood, 408 00:22:03,680 --> 00:22:08,720 Speaker 3: hearing gunshots, watching drug deals rampant. And that was before 409 00:22:08,760 --> 00:22:12,080 Speaker 3: he got out of his building, before he was then 410 00:22:12,119 --> 00:22:15,960 Speaker 3: able to only walk three blocks to school. That was 411 00:22:16,040 --> 00:22:21,520 Speaker 3: a gauntlet of danger every single day. And he said, 412 00:22:21,720 --> 00:22:24,119 Speaker 3: you know, Bill, if you walked into the neighborhood right 413 00:22:24,160 --> 00:22:27,080 Speaker 3: now and saw that, you would be absolutely floored and shocked, 414 00:22:27,119 --> 00:22:31,640 Speaker 3: and rightly so, he said, in our apartment, we had 415 00:22:31,720 --> 00:22:33,720 Speaker 3: a fan to keep cool with and one of the 416 00:22:33,760 --> 00:22:37,480 Speaker 3: blades was out of balance and so it ticked. And 417 00:22:37,640 --> 00:22:40,320 Speaker 3: he said, and if you walked into our apartment, it 418 00:22:40,359 --> 00:22:44,080 Speaker 3: would have driven you nuts because of been tic issue. 419 00:22:44,240 --> 00:22:45,879 Speaker 3: Just driven you nuts. He said, But you know what, 420 00:22:46,840 --> 00:22:49,400 Speaker 3: after living with that fan for a while, we didn't 421 00:22:49,400 --> 00:22:53,040 Speaker 3: even hear the tick. And he said, what ends up 422 00:22:53,240 --> 00:22:56,640 Speaker 3: happening is after living in that environment as a child 423 00:22:56,720 --> 00:22:59,800 Speaker 3: for a while, you begin to think that's just normal. Yeah, 424 00:23:00,840 --> 00:23:07,040 Speaker 3: And that is how generational poverty, generational crime, and generational 425 00:23:07,080 --> 00:23:10,000 Speaker 3: all the things that are destroying a large percentage of 426 00:23:10,119 --> 00:23:17,720 Speaker 3: our population starts. It's because the unthinkable, the wicked becomes common, 427 00:23:17,960 --> 00:23:21,199 Speaker 3: and it becomes so common, yeah, you don't even recognize 428 00:23:21,240 --> 00:23:23,600 Speaker 3: it as inconceivable and wicked. Any longer. 429 00:23:24,200 --> 00:23:27,000 Speaker 1: As you talk about that, a story, I mean, an 430 00:23:27,040 --> 00:23:29,160 Speaker 1: image just came to my mind. Was something that taught 431 00:23:29,240 --> 00:23:32,000 Speaker 1: me that probably my second or third year as a teacher, 432 00:23:33,160 --> 00:23:35,040 Speaker 1: was by the main office on the bottom floor of 433 00:23:35,119 --> 00:23:38,680 Speaker 1: our building, and there was this sort of rush of kids. 434 00:23:38,720 --> 00:23:40,879 Speaker 2: You know, when something's going on, kids all run toward it. 435 00:23:41,080 --> 00:23:42,160 Speaker 3: That's usually a fight. 436 00:23:42,359 --> 00:23:44,320 Speaker 1: It's usually a fight. So I'm like, I've got another 437 00:23:44,359 --> 00:23:46,119 Speaker 1: fight going down to break this up. 438 00:23:46,960 --> 00:23:48,760 Speaker 3: In my mind, I'm a hooker, got breaking up a 439 00:23:48,840 --> 00:23:50,120 Speaker 3: fight all the time. I love. 440 00:23:50,280 --> 00:23:53,119 Speaker 1: These teeth are false. That's another story. But it was 441 00:23:53,200 --> 00:23:55,000 Speaker 1: from breaking up a fight. They all got knocked out. 442 00:23:55,119 --> 00:23:58,920 Speaker 1: So my hope was, I hope it's not girls, because 443 00:23:58,960 --> 00:24:01,199 Speaker 1: girls are really hard to they're trying to kill each other. 444 00:24:01,280 --> 00:24:08,600 Speaker 1: The boys they're just posted. They claw and they're over you. Girls. 445 00:24:08,760 --> 00:24:11,320 Speaker 2: Girlfights are way worse than boy fights are. 446 00:24:11,440 --> 00:24:13,240 Speaker 1: They are way worse. But I was thinking it was 447 00:24:13,280 --> 00:24:15,680 Speaker 1: a fight, hoping it wasn't a girl fight, and that rose. 448 00:24:15,680 --> 00:24:17,840 Speaker 1: The kids are not stopping in front of the officer, 449 00:24:18,040 --> 00:24:22,560 Speaker 1: They're they're going out the doors to the street next 450 00:24:22,600 --> 00:24:26,320 Speaker 1: to the school and it's walker in forty four, so 451 00:24:26,480 --> 00:24:28,760 Speaker 1: people in Okama City will know exactly what I'm talking about. 452 00:24:29,400 --> 00:24:32,840 Speaker 1: And a fight had happened, has sort of spilled out 453 00:24:32,920 --> 00:24:35,760 Speaker 1: into the street, which was unusual. They'd gone out into 454 00:24:35,800 --> 00:24:39,280 Speaker 1: the street, and uh, these two kids were squaring up. 455 00:24:40,200 --> 00:24:42,960 Speaker 1: I see at the corner of my eye another young 456 00:24:43,040 --> 00:24:46,560 Speaker 1: person runs around with a brick in their hand and 457 00:24:47,119 --> 00:24:49,920 Speaker 1: strikes one of the kids in the at the base 458 00:24:50,000 --> 00:24:55,720 Speaker 1: of the skull with this brick and he falls right 459 00:24:55,800 --> 00:25:01,399 Speaker 1: to the asphalt and begins to convulse. And and this 460 00:25:01,600 --> 00:25:05,040 Speaker 1: is an absolutely surreal moment for me. This is again, 461 00:25:05,240 --> 00:25:07,119 Speaker 1: this is the United States of America. This is the 462 00:25:07,200 --> 00:25:14,159 Speaker 1: most powerful, wealthy, affluent, educated nation it's ever existed in 463 00:25:14,240 --> 00:25:15,240 Speaker 1: the history of mankind. 464 00:25:15,640 --> 00:25:18,359 Speaker 2: And this is in the street. These are children. 465 00:25:19,800 --> 00:25:23,160 Speaker 1: This child is laying there in his blood, beginning to pool, 466 00:25:24,000 --> 00:25:27,200 Speaker 1: and I'm like, somebody should be doing something right now. 467 00:25:27,240 --> 00:25:29,960 Speaker 1: This is like, this is wild that this is occurring 468 00:25:30,000 --> 00:25:33,280 Speaker 1: in the street. And I'm sort of standing over the kid. 469 00:25:34,080 --> 00:25:36,440 Speaker 1: As the other kids beginning to realize this is pretty 470 00:25:36,440 --> 00:25:39,400 Speaker 1: serious day, they just sort of back off, and I'm 471 00:25:39,400 --> 00:25:40,960 Speaker 1: standing in the middle of the street trying to stop 472 00:25:41,080 --> 00:25:44,040 Speaker 1: traffic from rolling up on this young person's laying in 473 00:25:44,040 --> 00:25:48,879 Speaker 1: the street. A car comes up real fast, stops. A 474 00:25:48,960 --> 00:25:52,120 Speaker 1: couple of kids get out, their fellow gang members throw 475 00:25:52,200 --> 00:25:54,480 Speaker 1: this kid in the back seat, and then drive off. 476 00:25:56,640 --> 00:25:59,520 Speaker 1: And I'm literally standing in the street looking at blood 477 00:25:59,560 --> 00:26:03,400 Speaker 1: in the street, going, what has just happened here? 478 00:26:03,920 --> 00:26:05,200 Speaker 2: Somebody should be doing something. 479 00:26:05,760 --> 00:26:07,639 Speaker 1: I turned around, the kids just sort of walked slowly 480 00:26:07,720 --> 00:26:10,600 Speaker 1: back in the building and we go back to school. 481 00:26:12,920 --> 00:26:17,360 Speaker 1: I have no idea what happened to this kid, even 482 00:26:17,400 --> 00:26:20,520 Speaker 1: to this day. It never showed up in the news. 483 00:26:21,320 --> 00:26:23,840 Speaker 1: No administrator was talking to me about it. There were 484 00:26:23,920 --> 00:26:27,159 Speaker 1: no police involvement. It was just like literally blood in 485 00:26:27,200 --> 00:26:29,879 Speaker 1: the street, and I'm like, I just could not wrap 486 00:26:29,960 --> 00:26:33,240 Speaker 1: my mind around, as you meant, the normalization of this 487 00:26:33,440 --> 00:26:40,399 Speaker 1: type of just catastrophic violence, barbarism, This is base humanity 488 00:26:40,560 --> 00:26:44,120 Speaker 1: at and nobody was there stopping this from a kirky. 489 00:26:47,920 --> 00:27:03,760 Speaker 3: We'll be right back. People not from that areas have 490 00:27:03,960 --> 00:27:09,760 Speaker 3: heard these stories before, and we've become My belief is 491 00:27:09,880 --> 00:27:12,800 Speaker 3: we've become desensitized to it because so long and we're 492 00:27:12,920 --> 00:27:16,199 Speaker 3: just like, what can you do about quote these folks, 493 00:27:17,160 --> 00:27:19,280 Speaker 3: and they've made their bed, they're going to lie in it. 494 00:27:19,560 --> 00:27:21,840 Speaker 3: And we have a free country, and we have a 495 00:27:21,920 --> 00:27:25,879 Speaker 3: free education and we have all these opportunities, and if 496 00:27:25,920 --> 00:27:28,440 Speaker 3: people choose to live that lifestyle, why should I be 497 00:27:28,560 --> 00:27:33,040 Speaker 3: concerned about it? And all of these other things that 498 00:27:33,240 --> 00:27:36,920 Speaker 3: I would say is equally apathetic and evil. 499 00:27:37,640 --> 00:27:41,440 Speaker 1: When people ask me the sort of broad question what's 500 00:27:41,440 --> 00:27:45,960 Speaker 1: wrong with with education in Oklahoma, we managed to languish 501 00:27:46,040 --> 00:27:50,040 Speaker 1: around fiftieth sometimes up to forty seven to forty eighth 502 00:27:50,080 --> 00:27:53,200 Speaker 1: in the nation in almost all indicators, what's wrong with 503 00:27:53,400 --> 00:27:57,960 Speaker 1: education Oklahoma? And I say something that kind of it 504 00:27:58,080 --> 00:28:00,639 Speaker 1: kind of pisses some people off. Sometimes. What it is is, 505 00:28:01,080 --> 00:28:02,960 Speaker 1: I say, I don't think we love kids in Oklahoma. 506 00:28:04,720 --> 00:28:06,159 Speaker 1: What do you mean we don't love kids in Oklahoma? 507 00:28:06,200 --> 00:28:07,680 Speaker 1: I said, well, I don't think we love I think 508 00:28:07,760 --> 00:28:09,639 Speaker 1: empirically I can prove to you that we don't love 509 00:28:09,720 --> 00:28:13,520 Speaker 1: children in Oklahoma. I think we love our kids, right, 510 00:28:13,800 --> 00:28:17,000 Speaker 1: and those, Yeah, I'm not saying you don't love your kids, 511 00:28:17,440 --> 00:28:19,359 Speaker 1: or those who played football with your kids, are soccer 512 00:28:19,440 --> 00:28:21,119 Speaker 1: your or go to church with your kids. I mean, 513 00:28:21,160 --> 00:28:24,080 Speaker 1: you might even like some of those kids, but there 514 00:28:24,160 --> 00:28:27,280 Speaker 1: is a mountain of evidence to so we do not 515 00:28:27,520 --> 00:28:31,320 Speaker 1: love those kids. So to your point that those are 516 00:28:31,400 --> 00:28:35,520 Speaker 1: not my responsibility, those those children are not something that 517 00:28:35,560 --> 00:28:38,800 Speaker 1: I should be doing something about And I mean, I'm 518 00:28:39,160 --> 00:28:41,760 Speaker 1: I am, I'll be honest with you, coach, I'm sort of. 519 00:28:43,040 --> 00:28:45,520 Speaker 1: I don't mean I don't like growing ups very much. 520 00:28:45,560 --> 00:28:48,200 Speaker 1: I think we have made we made our bed, we're 521 00:28:48,280 --> 00:28:50,920 Speaker 1: lying in it. I mean, we've grown at this point. 522 00:28:50,960 --> 00:28:54,560 Speaker 1: But kids, right there should be a collective agreement that 523 00:28:54,920 --> 00:28:58,720 Speaker 1: children should be at least held harmless for what their 524 00:28:58,800 --> 00:29:00,440 Speaker 1: parents or grandparents. 525 00:29:00,080 --> 00:29:01,560 Speaker 2: Have done or not done for them. We should be 526 00:29:01,600 --> 00:29:02,680 Speaker 2: doing something about those. 527 00:29:02,840 --> 00:29:06,480 Speaker 1: So I begin to assert early on, no matter what, 528 00:29:06,560 --> 00:29:09,440 Speaker 1: we should be caring for children, like y'all sort this 529 00:29:09,520 --> 00:29:12,760 Speaker 1: political thing out, but at least the children should be 530 00:29:13,880 --> 00:29:17,800 Speaker 1: able to start fresh. And that's been the real challenge, 531 00:29:17,840 --> 00:29:21,440 Speaker 1: trying to sort of convince people that that kid is 532 00:29:21,520 --> 00:29:22,880 Speaker 1: our responsibility. 533 00:29:22,960 --> 00:29:23,960 Speaker 2: Those children are ours. 534 00:29:24,400 --> 00:29:28,360 Speaker 3: I've said this as well a thousand times, and I'm 535 00:29:28,360 --> 00:29:30,200 Speaker 3: gonna keep saying it because I don't think people hear 536 00:29:30,240 --> 00:29:34,560 Speaker 3: it enough. If you don't care from a spiritual or 537 00:29:34,760 --> 00:29:42,040 Speaker 3: social or cultural viewpoint about that kid, if you just 538 00:29:42,200 --> 00:29:45,080 Speaker 3: don't have a heart for it, well then you need 539 00:29:45,200 --> 00:29:49,360 Speaker 3: to be a pragmatist because that kid is going to 540 00:29:49,400 --> 00:29:52,920 Speaker 3: become an adult, and that kid is either going to 541 00:29:53,160 --> 00:29:56,560 Speaker 3: contribute to the tax space, or take from it that 542 00:29:56,720 --> 00:29:58,680 Speaker 3: kid is either going to have a job and be 543 00:29:58,760 --> 00:30:02,640 Speaker 3: a productive membversus society, or be a drag on society, 544 00:30:02,920 --> 00:30:08,120 Speaker 3: either having to rely on sustenance or be a homeless 545 00:30:08,160 --> 00:30:12,400 Speaker 3: person or continue to fill our jails. So, either, as 546 00:30:12,480 --> 00:30:17,360 Speaker 3: a pragmatic viewpoint, do you want our children becoming part 547 00:30:17,440 --> 00:30:24,880 Speaker 3: of a productive citizenry, creating jobs, filling jobs, and contributing 548 00:30:24,920 --> 00:30:27,680 Speaker 3: to a tax space, or do you want them detracting 549 00:30:28,360 --> 00:30:31,840 Speaker 3: from our entire culture and society. So we from a 550 00:30:31,920 --> 00:30:33,520 Speaker 3: pragmatic standpoint. 551 00:30:33,320 --> 00:30:36,000 Speaker 2: That is so true. I mean economically, why can we 552 00:30:36,120 --> 00:30:37,240 Speaker 2: not look at that data set? 553 00:30:37,440 --> 00:30:39,400 Speaker 3: Just look at it economically if you don't care about 554 00:30:39,400 --> 00:30:40,320 Speaker 3: it socially. 555 00:30:40,080 --> 00:30:42,040 Speaker 2: And make legislative decisions around that. 556 00:30:42,240 --> 00:30:44,480 Speaker 3: That's the when you said the politics thing, I'm not 557 00:30:44,640 --> 00:30:48,680 Speaker 3: caring about right left anything. What I'm saying is there's 558 00:30:48,720 --> 00:30:53,720 Speaker 3: a political economic data driven point here that I don't 559 00:30:53,800 --> 00:30:58,520 Speaker 3: see how policymakers don't care. 560 00:30:59,240 --> 00:31:01,240 Speaker 2: I was talking to a lobbyist about this. 561 00:31:01,440 --> 00:31:05,560 Speaker 1: I said, look, here's the economic result of this good policy. 562 00:31:06,120 --> 00:31:07,800 Speaker 2: He goes, you don't understand it. So what do I 563 00:31:07,880 --> 00:31:09,680 Speaker 2: not understand? This is a numbers thing? 564 00:31:09,760 --> 00:31:12,840 Speaker 1: If I look at this, it makes fiscal sense for 565 00:31:13,000 --> 00:31:15,480 Speaker 1: these conservatives to make this choice. He goes, good policy 566 00:31:16,000 --> 00:31:17,320 Speaker 1: isn't always good politics. 567 00:31:17,520 --> 00:31:18,400 Speaker 2: So explain that to me. 568 00:31:19,000 --> 00:31:22,120 Speaker 1: Well, the people that are electing these people don't necessarily 569 00:31:22,280 --> 00:31:25,560 Speaker 1: care about the policy. They care about the politics, and 570 00:31:25,880 --> 00:31:28,680 Speaker 1: those being elected need to pay attention to the politics 571 00:31:29,480 --> 00:31:32,240 Speaker 1: even if it's not good policy, or if it is. 572 00:31:32,320 --> 00:31:32,680 Speaker 3: I'm sorry. 573 00:31:33,080 --> 00:31:34,880 Speaker 1: So I have to find some sort of perfect blend 574 00:31:34,920 --> 00:31:37,280 Speaker 1: between policy and politics to get something passed. 575 00:31:37,320 --> 00:31:39,640 Speaker 2: And said, yeah, no, ideally. 576 00:31:39,480 --> 00:31:46,160 Speaker 3: Policy, policy, politics and culture. Yeah, it's a tough blend. Yes, 577 00:31:46,320 --> 00:31:50,120 Speaker 3: So it is chronologically back to you as a teacher. 578 00:31:50,880 --> 00:31:53,120 Speaker 3: I think I read that at some point you just 579 00:31:53,160 --> 00:31:53,760 Speaker 3: got fount up. 580 00:31:53,920 --> 00:31:56,000 Speaker 2: Yeah, six years in I said, I'm quitting. 581 00:31:56,240 --> 00:31:58,280 Speaker 1: Six years is a lifetime in that environment and that 582 00:31:58,400 --> 00:32:01,120 Speaker 1: environment trying to coach it was there was no I mean, 583 00:32:02,080 --> 00:32:05,040 Speaker 1: there was no pathway to a win. I mean, I'm 584 00:32:05,080 --> 00:32:07,360 Speaker 1: all about tactics and strategy. I want to get to 585 00:32:07,480 --> 00:32:11,239 Speaker 1: a goal, but I couldn't see any There wasn't an 586 00:32:11,320 --> 00:32:15,000 Speaker 1: avenue forward, and I was just frustrated, like I can't 587 00:32:15,160 --> 00:32:17,880 Speaker 1: spend my one precious live doing this thing. 588 00:32:17,800 --> 00:32:18,280 Speaker 2: I've got to do. 589 00:32:19,560 --> 00:32:20,880 Speaker 3: It was torn up about it a little. 590 00:32:21,040 --> 00:32:23,440 Speaker 2: Yeah. Yeah, it was aks ridden, like I think I'm 591 00:32:23,440 --> 00:32:24,120 Speaker 2: supposed to be here. 592 00:32:24,120 --> 00:32:25,440 Speaker 3: I got to be doing this work, but I was 593 00:32:25,480 --> 00:32:26,640 Speaker 3: just anxious. 594 00:32:26,800 --> 00:32:27,520 Speaker 2: I can't. 595 00:32:29,440 --> 00:32:29,480 Speaker 3: Ed. 596 00:32:30,600 --> 00:32:31,280 Speaker 2: I mean, you're stuck. 597 00:32:31,560 --> 00:32:36,400 Speaker 1: You're doing everything every day and seeing there's no long 598 00:32:36,560 --> 00:32:39,520 Speaker 1: term light at the end the there's just no no hope. 599 00:32:40,200 --> 00:32:41,960 Speaker 1: I guess it is about hope. When you see hope, 600 00:32:42,000 --> 00:32:45,440 Speaker 1: you can if there's some agency right to attain that, 601 00:32:46,880 --> 00:32:48,840 Speaker 1: you'll move forward. But when you stop seeing that you 602 00:32:48,960 --> 00:32:50,680 Speaker 1: have a path forward, it's like. 603 00:32:52,160 --> 00:32:53,240 Speaker 2: I'm going to do something different. 604 00:32:53,640 --> 00:32:56,120 Speaker 3: John will Fong is a very good friend of mine. 605 00:32:56,280 --> 00:32:58,440 Speaker 3: I don't know if you're all a basketball fan, but 606 00:32:58,520 --> 00:33:01,520 Speaker 3: he was the shooting guard back when mephis state was 607 00:33:01,600 --> 00:33:03,800 Speaker 3: always in the Final four and sweet sixteen. 608 00:33:04,160 --> 00:33:06,040 Speaker 2: At some point, you're going to talk about the Grizzlies, 609 00:33:06,040 --> 00:33:06,360 Speaker 2: aren't you. 610 00:33:07,040 --> 00:33:08,160 Speaker 3: I will if you would like to. 611 00:33:09,120 --> 00:33:10,160 Speaker 2: We don't have to go that well. 612 00:33:10,960 --> 00:33:13,760 Speaker 3: Honestly, I don't need to speak to anybody from a 613 00:33:14,040 --> 00:33:16,440 Speaker 3: city about the Grizzlies. We just need to keep our 614 00:33:16,520 --> 00:33:17,120 Speaker 3: mouths shut. 615 00:33:17,640 --> 00:33:18,040 Speaker 2: This year. 616 00:33:18,240 --> 00:33:21,320 Speaker 3: I'm happy to tell you that your your barbecue is 617 00:33:21,440 --> 00:33:23,240 Speaker 3: minor league and our league. 618 00:33:23,280 --> 00:33:24,400 Speaker 2: But you get that win. 619 00:33:25,000 --> 00:33:27,280 Speaker 3: Oh you give me the wink. Very much. We don't 620 00:33:27,320 --> 00:33:29,000 Speaker 3: have to do another We're going to go like that. 621 00:33:29,160 --> 00:33:31,240 Speaker 2: We're going to go verify that later today. 622 00:33:34,120 --> 00:33:38,240 Speaker 3: He coached a you bought his son and when after 623 00:33:38,360 --> 00:33:40,800 Speaker 3: the games in fifth grade, they would go to Appleby's 624 00:33:40,840 --> 00:33:42,960 Speaker 3: or whatever in between games and then they'd take the 625 00:33:43,040 --> 00:33:45,120 Speaker 3: team and some of the kids on the team were 626 00:33:45,360 --> 00:33:48,200 Speaker 3: didn't have any money. He would buy lunch or dinner, 627 00:33:48,280 --> 00:33:51,320 Speaker 3: and every single time, a guy named Frank would order 628 00:33:51,360 --> 00:33:54,720 Speaker 3: exactly what his son did. His son would or chicken fingers, 629 00:33:54,720 --> 00:33:57,760 Speaker 3: Frank say, I have that his son would or cheeseburger Franks, 630 00:33:57,880 --> 00:33:59,960 Speaker 3: they have that his son would order a strawberry milk 631 00:34:00,080 --> 00:34:02,120 Speaker 3: shake with sprinkles on top of it. Frank would have that. 632 00:34:02,720 --> 00:34:05,680 Speaker 3: And John finally realized that the reason Frank was ordering 633 00:34:05,760 --> 00:34:07,840 Speaker 3: everything a Sun did is because he couldn't read the menu. 634 00:34:09,320 --> 00:34:11,880 Speaker 3: He has since started a thing called coaching for Literacy. 635 00:34:12,640 --> 00:34:16,400 Speaker 3: If you ever see college football coaches, basketball coaches, baseball 636 00:34:16,440 --> 00:34:20,320 Speaker 3: coaches with a little lime green ribbon on their lapel, 637 00:34:21,280 --> 00:34:26,600 Speaker 3: those coaches are supporting financially coaching for literacy. What John 638 00:34:26,719 --> 00:34:30,520 Speaker 3: found out is, and I'm going to re telling the stories, 639 00:34:30,520 --> 00:34:34,800 Speaker 3: I'm gonna let you take it, is if a third 640 00:34:34,920 --> 00:34:40,480 Speaker 3: grader is not reading on grade level by third grade, 641 00:34:40,640 --> 00:34:44,200 Speaker 3: there are data pointscalore that says that he is like 642 00:34:44,640 --> 00:34:48,360 Speaker 3: five times more likely to not have a job or 643 00:34:48,480 --> 00:34:51,040 Speaker 3: be in jail by his twenty first birthday than he 644 00:34:51,200 --> 00:34:58,520 Speaker 3: is third grade. We can predict, the data has proven 645 00:34:58,640 --> 00:35:02,920 Speaker 3: that we can predict really, really, really well that outcome 646 00:35:03,080 --> 00:35:06,840 Speaker 3: of a human being's life simply by if they're reading 647 00:35:06,960 --> 00:35:08,919 Speaker 3: on grade level about third grade. 648 00:35:09,080 --> 00:35:09,600 Speaker 2: That's correct. 649 00:35:13,840 --> 00:35:22,120 Speaker 3: How then are we not, as a entire society hammering 650 00:35:22,280 --> 00:35:24,919 Speaker 3: down on making sure every child reads on grade level 651 00:35:24,920 --> 00:35:27,320 Speaker 3: about third grade? Because we could empty our jails, we 652 00:35:27,400 --> 00:35:31,560 Speaker 3: could fill our coffers full of earned tax dollars yep, 653 00:35:32,200 --> 00:35:35,120 Speaker 3: and we could fix society and culture in a generation 654 00:35:35,880 --> 00:35:38,040 Speaker 3: if we would just look at the truth and the data. 655 00:35:38,520 --> 00:35:41,960 Speaker 3: Yet we continue to look at the inner city and 656 00:35:42,040 --> 00:35:44,799 Speaker 3: the poverty and stuff our nose at them and think 657 00:35:44,880 --> 00:35:46,680 Speaker 3: you can't help these people. 658 00:35:48,960 --> 00:35:51,040 Speaker 2: I really don't know why. 659 00:35:51,320 --> 00:35:54,840 Speaker 1: I mean, to me, the natural like instinct or response 660 00:35:54,920 --> 00:35:57,719 Speaker 1: to that is, let's teach kids to read. That would 661 00:35:57,760 --> 00:36:00,000 Speaker 1: be I mean, it's it's not. I don't want to 662 00:36:00,160 --> 00:36:03,720 Speaker 1: over complicate this, but we know now through the science 663 00:36:03,760 --> 00:36:07,000 Speaker 1: of reading, exactly how humans acquire the ability to read. 664 00:36:07,560 --> 00:36:09,160 Speaker 2: We can train teachers to do this. 665 00:36:09,640 --> 00:36:14,000 Speaker 1: We've got the curriculum resources and the school public school 666 00:36:14,000 --> 00:36:19,200 Speaker 1: structures to do it. There really is no reason, no 667 00:36:19,480 --> 00:36:22,080 Speaker 1: reason that we cannot teach children to read. Now, all 668 00:36:22,200 --> 00:36:24,359 Speaker 1: kinds of other good things happen. Right then, you read 669 00:36:24,440 --> 00:36:26,960 Speaker 1: to learn after age through third grade, you learn to 670 00:36:27,040 --> 00:36:29,080 Speaker 1: read prior to that, All of a sudden, all of 671 00:36:29,160 --> 00:36:32,480 Speaker 1: the actual learning, the content knowledge begins to accrue. We 672 00:36:32,560 --> 00:36:36,200 Speaker 1: start to make tremendous gains. But I mean, as an educator, 673 00:36:36,280 --> 00:36:39,000 Speaker 1: I know we pour into our early childhood programs in 674 00:36:39,040 --> 00:36:44,480 Speaker 1: our schools focusing on math and reading and not equivocating. 675 00:36:44,600 --> 00:36:48,040 Speaker 1: It is essential so those kids are positioned to be successful. 676 00:36:48,080 --> 00:36:49,160 Speaker 2: Beyond that, I don't know why. 677 00:36:51,560 --> 00:36:55,800 Speaker 3: And that concludes part one of my conversation with Chris Brewster, 678 00:36:56,040 --> 00:36:58,719 Speaker 3: and you don't want to miss part two. It's now 679 00:36:58,800 --> 00:37:02,800 Speaker 3: available to listen to it together. Guys, we can change 680 00:37:02,880 --> 00:37:06,440 Speaker 3: this country, but it starts with you. I'll see imparts 681 00:37:06,480 --> 00:37:06,520 Speaker 3: it