I Thought I Might Substitute Teach
Then the State of Mn required access to my Google Account
There was an article in the local paper this week, Wanted: Substitute Teachers.
Are you surprised there is a need?
My professors at University all said I would make a great teacher. Years ago I applied three times to be a substitute teacher in the Minneapolis school system, but no one ever contacted me in response. Too straight and white and male I suppose. I have never otherwise taught in a school. It might be fun. I get along with kids generally, because as with adults I treat them with dignity and respect. They might find my perspective refreshing, even. Ha! You all can take bets on how long it is before I am dis-invited for saying there are two biological sexes, or covid was a fraud and the jabs are deadly, or climate change is for communist control freaks. The kids might not care but some of the teachers and administrators would, surely.
I’m sure I’m being very naive.
I went to the MN Gov website to look into applying for a license. I have a college degree so I’m eligible technically. This is the page I was directed to.
Sign in with Google. I can only create an account by signing in with Google? So I did a little research, what am I giving the State of Minnesota if I access their substitute teacher license application using my Google account?
There is no way to retrieve information once it has been sent to a third-party service. Your friends’ privacy may potentially be at risk without your knowledge. The following are some examples of the information that various sites may access from your Google account:
Contacts
To-do list; planner; timetable etc
Google Wallet
Your Birthday
Your social media profiles
For example, a website might request access to your Google Calendar, contacts, or even the ability to send emails on your behalf. By granting these permissions, you are essentially allowing the website to access and utilize that specific information from your Google account.
Notice, there is no explanation on the MNgov page about what information the State will have access too, there is no disclaimer, no explanation of my privacy rights, no link for more information about permissions. Simply, sign in with my Google Account if I want access. I have to assume then, the State Of Minnesota will have access to ALL of the information Google has access to. The State seems to take that for granted. So essentially, there is no real separation between Google and the State, and I would be effectively surrendering whatever privacy rights I have left.
At least they said “please”!
This is normally how I feel about logging into third party websites with my Google Account:
What do you suppose the State of Minnesota would say, about my application for substitute teaching, if education department bureaucrats read this substack?
So ridiculous.
It is the information age, the gov is going to have all my information anywho, sooner or later, as if they already don’t have access if they want it, like Google isn’t going to give it up if gov asks for any reason. There is not any particular reason gov should want it at this point, I am no particular threat to government (though the FBI seems to be expanding the definition of terrorist threat to include about 70+% of the country.) It goes against everything I believe, in a way, willingly giving the government access to so much of my personal information. But then I already have given so much so willingly to Google, and Google is basically the demiurge. But then, what the hell am I talking about, what isn’t the NSA hoovering up? “Your Data: If You Have Nothing to Hide, You Have Nothing to Fear” (reading that NSA link you might think it parody - it is not. They catalog everything, and truly believe they have every legal right. I doubt being anon on Substack is protecting anyone from government, necessarily. Though it is entirely possible, the NSA is full of shit, and just wants you to think they have that much power.)
That said…the Librarian of Calaeno says if you want to teach, absolutely do not do so in the public schools, because if you have any sense at all you will be driven out eventually and you will be unable to get a job anywhere in the public schools thereafter, it is such a woke toxic institution.
Besides, teachers in the public schools have almost no creative freedom, they are utterly constrained by State dictate, because of course the State is doing such a GREAT job educating kids. And these numbers were before the Covid policy, child psychology demolition derby. Keep in mind, Minnesota consistently scores well above the national average, if you can believe it. No amount of money is going to fix this madness. It is astounding that Americans put up with this institutional hobbling of opportunity for so many kids (as I don’t have kids, I’ve never considered it my fight, but I think in principle the public schools should be disbanded and replaced with micro-schools.)
Proportion of students proficient at grade level on MCA III tests in 2018
Grade 4 Reading & Grade 8 Math
White students 65% 65%
American Indian/Alaska Native students 31% 25%
Asian students 48% 63%
Black students 31% 29%
Hispanic students 32% 35%
Students eligible for free/reduced-price meals 36% 36%
All students 56% 57%
The following link is an explantation of the Prussian model of education and why it is so very bad at educating children.
But then I am not looking to have a career as a substitute teacher. It is a little like the time I went to work in the creative department at Best Buy world headquarters during the credit bubble in 2007, or that Wells Fargo mortgage chop shop after the credit bubble popped, or Home Depot during the Great Recession, or that maintenance job for housing for people with Autism, or the job I have taking care of plants for the greatest of all retail leviathans, or any of the other 20 jobs I have had in every field but teaching. It would be like reconnaissance. Besides, schools are in need, kids are in need, the community is in need, I am in need of employment that is not hard manual labor. Assuming they would even hire a straight, white, single male without kids?
What do you think, readers? Should I give the State of Minnesota access to my Google Account, see what happens?
Having written this though, I think I have already decided, if I am going to apply for this job it is time to finally divest myself from Google, except for one otherwise empty account to log in to the State.
naive of me, perhaps, but.....
can you open a second google account for professional use, and keep your personal one for personal use? No nefarious intent, of course, but it makes sense.
I know that is not the point you were trying to make, but it seems to me that it is possible to do that, technically.
William - Such impressive performative outrage here with this omnipresent annoyance.
Just a guess here, but you might need to complete forms the new-fashioned way - via Google Forms. That's a real thing.
Create a new Google account - burner phone, public wifi, VPN or tor, whatever.
And Google can be used to authenticate without giving whomever global access to account contents. It's not like they can't subpoena all of your information later anyway.
You won't appreciate the credit and background checks, tenant history. LexisNexus search, etc.
And why bother? They didn't want you the first three times you tried.