504. Fired for Honesty and Competence: One Genuine Teacher's Story | Warren Smith
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What sparked Warren Smith's viral video?
Hello everybody. I had the opportunity to sit down in person today with Warren Smith. Warren was a teacher and he recorded himself having a discussion with a student about a rather contentious topic. Turned out to be JK Rowling's reactions to the trans propaganda insanity that plagues our culture in 15 different ways.
Do you still like her work despite her bigoted opinions? So let's get specific though. Let's define bigoted opinions. What opinions are bigoted? She has had a history of being extremely transphobic, I've heard. And you've heard, so what, can you give me an example? In 2019, she said, live your best life in peace and security, but force women out of their jobs for stating that sex is real. So you find that bigoted? What do you find about bigoted? It was...
the video, which was remarkable, I would say, for the good sense that Warren brought to it, the calm demeanor, the intelligent questioning of the student, really the professional way that he handled the discussion, which is now so rare among those who purport to be teachers that the mere fact of its professionalism was remarkable in and of itself, enough so that it went viral.
Do you find that transphobic yourself? I don't really have an opinion on it, but I'm just going with what a lot of other people have said. So let's pause it. Let's not go with what other people are saying.
Let's try and learn how to critically think. So let's analyze the tweet ourselves. So that statement, do you see anything problematic?
was shared by Elon Musk, among many other people. And as you might imagine, that produced an explosive effect on Warren's life.
So it happened yesterday. I was fired from my full-time teaching position.
That was followed up by a Piers Morgan interview, which I guess was the secondary explosion in the two explosions that rocked his life.
I am absolutely surprised by this completely. I never expected this at all. This came out accidentally. We have interactions like this on a daily basis. This one just happened to be captured on camera.
Which was also quite distressing, as you might expect, given his level of commitment to his teaching profession.
I have devoted four years of my life to this school and yesterday it was like being a character in a video game and just being deleted.
I wanted to talk to Warren because I really liked the video that he made. I thought it was remarkable for its sanity, especially given the time. And I was very curious about everything that had happened to him in consequence of the viral explosion of what he had done as a teacher. And so we sat down for an hour and a half to talk all that through. The consequences of saying what you think when the situation is set up to reward you for maintaining your silence. Join us for that discussion. Hello, Mr. Smith. Thank you for coming in today. It's an honor. Thank you. Yeah, no problem. Yeah, I probably came across you the way most people did, and I guess that was with the video that went viral that Musk shared, eh?
Lots of people who are watching and listening won't know anything about you. So why don't we start from the beginning? What was it that brought you to public attention? And tell us the story about your teaching career.
Well, public attention, it was that video that you're talking about. But the beginning, I mean, I've been thinking about this a lot because I've had time to reflect on it more. After that video, there was, it was a strange experience because suddenly you have one five minute video and suddenly you have this perceived value. but I mean, I was the exact same person as before that video. Now, I mean, it was not, for me, it was life-changing though. So I have people, some people wanting to talk to me, which was people that I have genuinely admired. Like, I mean, this is a bit kind of the, Dave Rubin, just opportunities that I never just, never expected.
What led to Warren Smith's firing from teaching?
And so I've been reflecting on those conversations because I often, I found myself kind of feeling like I was trying to live up to something from that video. So this idea of what suddenly I was labeled this kind of like this critical thinking Socratic method guy. And I wasn't intentionally doing that at all. I have no background in Socratic method or critical thinking.
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Chapters
8 chapters
1
What sparked Warren Smith's viral video?
0:00–4:26
2
What led to Warren Smith's firing from teaching?
4:26–9:17
3
How did COVID-19 impact Warren's teaching experience?
9:17–15:49
4
What challenges did Warren face in a school for behaviorally challenged kids?
15:49–21:27
5
How does Warren define critical thinking in education?
21:27–26:21
6
What role did J.K. Rowling's opinions play in the discussion?
26:21–32:02
7
How can video creation enhance student learning?
32:02–38:28
8
What are the implications of a false consensus in education?
38:28–1:24:26