Join Priscilla Rahn and her dear friend, retired teacher Jill Cullis, as they delve into the incredible journey of a social studies educator with a passion for American history. From childhood memories in Washington, D.C. to teaching overseas in Colombia, Jill’s experiences have shaped her love for teaching and commitment to civic education. Together, they explore how her early exposure to the country’s rich heritage influenced her lifelong dedication to educating students about our nation’s foundational principles.
Welcome to Restoring Education in America with Priscilla Rahn. She’s a master educator and author, leading the conversation to restore the American mind through wisdom, virtue, and truth.
SPEAKER 03 :
Well, hello, hello, everybody. Welcome to Restoring Education in America. I’m your host, Priscilla Rahn, and I’m so excited that you’ve decided to join the conversation today. Actually, I should say I’m grateful, but I have an amazing guest. She’s a very dear friend, retired teacher, Miss Jill Cullis. Welcome, Jill. Hi, thanks for having me, Priscilla. It’s always great to talk to you, even though we actually talk a lot, but it’s always fun to talk to you and catch up. And so welcome to my show. Before we go any further, for those people who don’t know you, I’m going to share a little bit of your bio. So Jill Cullis was born in Washington, D.C., and lived the first part of her life in northern Virginia. But her family chose to move to Colorado at the age of five years old. With limited family finances, Jill got her first job at 14 years old to pay for the ninth grade class trip back to her home in the D.C., northern Virginia area. She fell in love. She found her passion and mission in life, learning and teaching about our beloved country. She carried that love and fervor into the classroom where she taught social studies for 34 years in Jefferson County, Aurora, and overseas in Bogota, Colombia. After she retired, she continued that passion, working for Constituting America, going around schools in Colorado, teaching about our wonderful Declaration of Independence and Constitution. You are a rock star. Thank you.
SPEAKER 02 :
I have a good company like you.
SPEAKER 03 :
I know. Iron sharpens iron. When we first met and made the connection that we’re both educators, it was so amazing. And then you said you need to apply to Leadership Program of the Rockies. And you nominated me and recruited me and have been a mentor to me all of this time. And I’m so grateful for you. What’s something that you’re grateful for, Jill?
SPEAKER 02 :
Oh, I think the first thing that comes to mind is that I live in a country where we’re just really blessed that we get to live out our unalienable rights of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. Not everybody has that. If you hear stories on the news of what’s going on in Sudan or Nigeria, or North Korea or countries like that, we’re incredibly blessed to live in a country that our government secures our rights to individual rights of property, of mind, et cetera. So that’s what I’m most grateful for.
SPEAKER 03 :
I concur. And we need to do everything that we can to uphold our freedoms and our Constitution. But let’s so let’s talk about this amazing journey that you’ve been on. You were born in Washington, D.C. and raised in Colorado. What do you remember most about those early years that shaped your love of America?
SPEAKER 02 :
You know, one of the things that stands out was I remember that we went down to part of Northern Virginia. I believe it was Martha Washington’s house. But I do remember we visited her house. But I remember it could have been there or like a couple doors down, a couple blocks away from that. But I remember having gingerbread for the first time. And that gingerbread is like one of my comfort foods. So when I have gingerbread, I go back to being the age of four. and having gingerbread for the first time. And I loved it so much. I asked her if I could have a second piece, but I just remember being at Martha Washington’s house. I don’t know if that’s completely accurate. I don’t know why I would have had gingerbread at Martha Washington’s house, but I remember the connection of those two things. So.
SPEAKER 03 :
So food and smells, it’s a powerful thing that makes you remember something in that comfort. So how’s your recipe? How’s your gingerbread recipe?
SPEAKER 02 :
It’s good. It was my mom’s recipe. So a Southern recipe for gingerbread. And when was the last time you made some gingerbread, Jill? A couple of years ago. I had a colleague. It was his birthday and he loved gingerbread. So I made him the gingerbread cake for his birthday. And then I have a butter, a cream cheese butter icing that I put on top of it that it’s pretty much, it’s to die for. So it’s been a couple of years, but now my mouth is watering. So I might have to do that tomorrow.
SPEAKER 03 :
I think you need to do that. And I think you need to bring me some. Okay. So grateful for that.
SPEAKER 02 :
And then I’ll make you some coffee and we can, there we go more, you know, I’ll bring it over to your house and we will, we will sit and have coffee and cake and talk about our beloved country and declaration and constitution together.
SPEAKER 03 :
That sounds like a wonderful time. Yeah, exactly. So you mentioned that you got your first job at 14 years old to help you pay for your class trip. So you didn’t expect something for nothing. You actually got a job, worked to take a trip to go back to DC, and that trip changed your life. What was it about that experience that sparked your passion for history?
SPEAKER 02 :
I think number one, because I was 14, so I had to get a work permit because you’re not allowed to work at the age of 14. And I worked at a restaurant. It was a means to an end. I hated every minute of it, but I wanted that trip. But I had come home and I said to my mom and my dad, I said, I want to go back and see where we came from. And my parents said, we can’t afford that. So me being the little chutzpah that I am, this really kind of says a lot of who I am. I went out and got my first job and I’m like, I want to go back and see where we came from. But I just remember literally the sights and the sounds and the culture and the history and the government and the politics. And I just literally fell in love. And I came home and I said, I was in tears. And I said, why did we ever leave? I didn’t understand that. Why my parents wanted to move to Colorado from D.C. It had so much. you know the museums and the the battlefields and the you know the um the documents and just the rich it’s just the epicenter of who we are as a nation not just a capital but you know if you’re bored that’s because you didn’t walk out of your front door because there’s so much to see whether it’s a smithsonian or like i said a battlefield or you know so many different opportunities to learn about um our great nation so there was there was a lot that inspired me on that trip
SPEAKER 03 :
You know, hearing you talk with so much passion and love for the country reminds me of when I went to DC for the first time. Actually, I’ve been to DC, but I was so young. I was like seven years old and my oldest sister was graduating from Howard Law School. So I don’t remember ever seeing DC, but going back a couple of years ago after I won the teacher lesson plan contest, And seeing the Smithsonian and seeing the Constitution and the Declaration and an original flag and meeting a Supreme Court justice, Justice Kavanaugh. I was amazed. And actually, he’s pretty cool. I had this idea in my mind what a Supreme Court justice would be like. I figured they were very serious and very stuffy. But Justice Kavanaugh was very relatable and gave so much of his time to talk to us and answer questions it just made me respect the the position even more but um there’s so much to see i would encourage people to go and spend a couple of days it takes a few days to go to dc go to all of the museums um and experience like even though we we keep hearing about dc as being the swamp the political swamp yes i can understand that but yeah three in D.C. is quite amazing. But you spent 34 years, Jill, teaching social studies in Jefferson County, Aurora, and even overseas in Bogota, Colombia. What were some of the most rewarding and challenging moments of your journey in education?
SPEAKER 02 :
Rewarding was the times when I can think of one student in particular, I had him in civics and we required kids to do five hours of community service. You would have thought that I’d nearly asked them for their first born to give up five hours of their time. This is quite a while ago. We had at that point in time, I think they still do. In Aurora, we were the first municipality to have a teen court. And so he went and did his five hours at the teen court. He so fell in love with the concept of law and justice and courtroom. He continued through his junior year into his senior year, ends up going to DU, ends up going to DU Law School because he had such a great experience. giving five hours of his time as a junior in high school and just literally fell in love with what found his niche in life and decided to go on and be an attorney. So that’s one of the things that stands out to me of a real success of I got to have such an impact on a student of saying, I’m going to do some community service hours. And it was his choice of where he wanted to do it, but just falling in love with justice in the system, et cetera. So that was a great You know, sort of an accomplishment. But the challenges were that as a social studies teacher, I was trying to sell content to kids that didn’t know that they needed it nor wanted it. And I always tell students, you know, that just because you don’t take an interest in government doesn’t mean government doesn’t take an interest in you. And getting students to understand government is not them. Government is us. We the people. And you need to be actively engaged because otherwise you’re sitting back and somebody else’s opinion is governing what you what your choices are or are not, you know, what choices you have or don’t have. And so teaching students that, hey, you know, that was hard. That was really because I taught at a Title I school and that was difficult because they didn’t, you know, they would rather be doing other things than learning about Washington because that’s distant. That’s too far away. It doesn’t impact me. But when you go to the grocery store and, you know, you’ve got to pay your taxes, well, it impacts you.
SPEAKER 03 :
If you’re just tuning in, my guest today is Jill Cullis. She is a retired social studies teacher of over 34 years, and she’s still doing amazing work. So your time in Columbia and teaching in another country, well, I’m curious, like what took you to Columbia? And when you look at the differences in the political systems, what makes our system of government so unique?
SPEAKER 02 :
What took me there was my mentor called me and said, hey, how would you like to go to Bogota, Colombia? They need a U.S. history teacher. But I ended up going for two years. I got a leave of absence from my employer and I went over there for two years. And their system of government is now it’s a little bit different because of the presence that they have. But it’s a Democrat. They have a democratic system like we do. but their constitution is much, much longer. And it was just a different time. The haves and the have-nots are much greater in Colombia than they are here. People that are poor in Colombia are really poor. We don’t understand poverty here. People that are poor there You know, they have a dirt floor and they may sleep, you know, 10 people to one room. And it’s a very different lifestyle of people there. But the structure of government in terms of in a very basic manner, it’s still a democracy. They use the democratic process, I should say. So it was a unique experience for sure. I taught at the American school in Bogota. And so the kids were very, very wealthy and very privileged and very elitist to a certain extent. But I mean, I love the country. I love the people. I didn’t like the climate, didn’t like Bogota with the traffic, but I’m still very good friends with some of the people that I met in Colombia and still in close contact with them, you know, on a fairly regular basis.
SPEAKER 03 :
And I’m very proud of you because you are still practicing your Spanish every day. How many days in a row? I’ve seen you on your app.
SPEAKER 02 :
Yeah, I think it’s close to 1300 days in a row now of a daily Spanish. That’s like five to 15 minutes, depending on how long it takes me. But yeah, I do a little Spanish lesson every day to learn one new word, maybe.
SPEAKER 03 :
Muy bueno. Muy bueno. Mucho gusto, Jill. Muchísimas gracias. I remember my Spanish class in high school was, hola, ¿cómo está usted? Bien. Gracias. Y tú? Y ustedes. Y ustedes. ¿Cuántos años tienes? Okay, so I’m almost getting close to all of my Spanish.
SPEAKER 1 :
Okay.
SPEAKER 03 :
Although I can say, siéntate y manos abajo y silencio. Those are things as any classroom teacher you need to be able to say. So there you go. So next time we get together, we’re going to have gingerbread, coffee, and we’ll talk to each other in Spanish. How’s that?
SPEAKER 02 :
There we go. It’s going to be a short conversation. So, yeah.
SPEAKER 03 :
You know, as we look at all these decades that you’ve been in the classroom and been working with students, have you noticed a decline in civic understanding in our young people? And if so, what do you think has contributed to that change in civic understanding and knowledge of young people?
SPEAKER 02 :
I think, I mean, a dramatic reduction in what kids do, you know, understand and want to know. You know, I remember years ago going, I had kept some student work that was outstanding and I was cleaning out my file cabinet one day and I pulled out, it was a good assignment that a student had turned in. Otherwise I wouldn’t have kept it. But I remember the depth with which the answers that this student gave me. It was like, Multiple sentences. And I remember trying to pull teeth to get, you know, a student to write two or three sentences. That was pretty laborious for them to write two or three sentences. I think several things changed. Number one, cell phones in the classroom, I think dramatically changed a lot. That is, you know, every time your cell phone goes off, it’s like a dopamine hit to the head. And, you know, it’s like, oh, who’s texting me? We all do it. But I think that radically changed things. Social media really changed things because that drew kids attention away from instruction. you know, you didn’t have, um, you know, if there was an emergency, the parent called the school, you know, now the parent is, you know, dinging the kid on their cell phone in the middle of class. And COVID certainly did not help. That was a, that was a massive decline of, um, what students were, you know, required to do and the X or rather the expectation of what we should, you know, be able to have of them of what they should be able to accomplish during COVID dramatically dropped, um, you know, keeping schools closed, um, was a great disservice to students for sure. So I think that year by year, there’s been a radical decline. I think part of it is also the soft, what’s it called? The soft… A racist, you know, saying, oh, because, you know, that you can’t do it because you’re a victim.
SPEAKER 03 :
The soft bigotry of low expectations.
SPEAKER 02 :
Thank you. Thank you. And I think, yeah. And just say that because you’re X, you define what X is, that you can’t do that and you shouldn’t be expected to do that. And so we have reduced the expectations because saying, because you’re a victim, because whatever you happen to be, you can’t do it. Therefore we’ve lowered expectations. You know, if we put expectations here, kids may rise to here, but if we lower expectations are here, kids are going to meet it right here. And so as a result, I think that lowering expectations has dramatically reduced, um, you know, what we what kids can accomplish. And that has not been good. So I think all of those combined have been very detrimental to our educational system and society and in general.
SPEAKER 03 :
Yeah, I’ve noticed that with the increase in technology, I didn’t have cell phones, you know, growing up and I grew up in a very traditional household and to see the addiction these days and the disregard, yes, of parents who will knowingly text their children in the middle of class. It’s very disturbing to me that they don’t understand how important and precious addiction that time is when their child is at school but at the same time i’m understanding the concern of parents wanting to be able to have access to their children immediately because we’re living in this world where now we’re talking about school shootings and Having access to knowing your child is safe immediately, that is the conflict in this day and age. Because I can say all day long as a teacher, hey, parents, you can call the school if you need to teach your child. But for a lot of parents, because they’re very young, they’re what, Gen Z kids? I don’t even know what the, yeah.
SPEAKER 02 :
But there’s a difference between needing access to your child right here, right now and access to your child because there’s an emergency.
SPEAKER 03 :
but you never know when that emergency is going to arise. So we, if we’re going to tackle this issue of cell phones, we have to make sure that when a parent calls the school, that someone’s going to pick up the phone that doesn’t just go to a machine because parents, you know, if something were to happen, God forbid, parents are trying to reunify with their children and they don’t get their phone and It’s very concerning. So we’re in a tough place these days, but there are schools that are doing it. There are schools that are saying absolutely no cell phones during the school day. If your parents need to get a hold of you or vice versa, you’ve got to go use your teacher’s phone. And we still have landlines everywhere.
SPEAKER 02 :
And what they’re seeing, the districts, the studies that have been done on districts that are going to no cell phone policies, they are seeing increased attendance. They’re seeing increase in grades, increase in academics, decrease in fights, decrease in suspensions. And one of the things that was so surprising is increase the volume in the lunchroom. Because kids are now having conversations, especially after coming out of COVID. Kids were really socially atrophied. They didn’t know how to be engaged with one another because they were on their, you know, computers. We were just so disconnected from everybody. And as a result, they didn’t know how to behave with each other. And so they, you know, I love that phrase. I thought it was so appropriate, socially atrophied. But when, you know, districts that are going to no cell phone policies, all the positive things are increasing, all the negative things are decreasing. And so I think it would be a great thing.
SPEAKER 03 :
If you’re just tuning in, my guest today is Jill Cullis. She is a master teacher who retired, unfortunately, from teaching 34 years as a social studies teacher. But she’s still active and she’s still doing wonderful things in the community and teaching people about the importance of the Constitution and the Declaration. and all of the good things. And so we appreciate this conversation and all of your wisdom that you’re sharing. So thinking about, you know, young teachers today, if you could give advice to a young teacher coming out of an education program, what would you tell them?
SPEAKER 02 :
You are not the student’s friend. The teacher, you’re the teacher, they’re the student, and never the twain shall meet. You know, there was a book that, you know, I used that I, you know, read when I was in college. Something, I think the title was something like Don’t Smile Until Christmas. And, you know, you need to be, you know, we need to get back to some tough standards of students that, you know what, you’re here to learn. I’m here to teach. We can have a great time in the meantime. But to be your buddy is not something that is healthy for them, nor is it healthy for you, nor is it good for them academically and socially. But raising the standards, have higher expectations of what you think that your students can do. can and are willing to do. The higher your expectations, the more you’re going to get out of them and don’t settle.
SPEAKER 03 :
Do you have a favorite amendment or a favorite rights or something that you’re so passionate about? I mean, there’s just so many when we talk about it is there’s so much, but I’m just curious. Yeah.
SPEAKER 02 :
If there’s one, I think I for obvious reasons, the First Amendment, you know, because it has so many, you know, so many of our rights embedded in that. And we think that, you know, I’ve heard it. I’ve heard people say that what separates the United States from the rest of the Western world? is our First Amendment. Although having a Bill of Rights actually limits our rights, however, I’m really grateful that we do have our Bill of Rights, especially the First Amendment, because that is so critical that we get to have the right to freedom of religion, press, petition, assembly and speech. Those are really core to who we are. They are five unalienable rights, rights that come from the creator that don’t come from government, because if government gave us our rights, government can take away our rights and unalienable rights. come from the creator as declared in the declaration, as stated in the declaration that can’t be taken away regardless of where you live on this planet, regardless of your zip code, regardless of your passport, your unalienable rights you have because you’re a human being. And they’re just critical to who we are as a human race.
SPEAKER 03 :
One of the things that we learn in LPR is that your mind is the ultimate property. And part of applying your mind is using your voice. And in a time where people are censored and also told to stop telling their opinion, I think it’s really critical that people… voice their opinions and obviously in a respectful way as much as possible. I know people get upset and they get heated and they protest, but there are, there’s something called peaceful protests. We’ve got to find a way to disagree and argue in a respectful way. You know, we, we talked many times about Charlie Kirk and that was part of his mission, but was to say, let’s debate. If you disagree with me, you’re going to be first in line to talk about it. And maybe we can persuade each other. Maybe we can learn from each other. Maybe we won’t. But at least we would have had discourse because I know I’m not saying it right, but once discourse ends, that’s when violence begins. He said something like that. So as long as we’re talking in our voice and paying attention to what’s going on in our government, then we can live out this republic. And we’re not a democracy. I mean, we’re a little D democracy, right? We use the democratic process. Yes.
SPEAKER 02 :
But what you said is exactly right. It’s going back to don’t argue your opinion because an opinion can sway this one way one day and go this direction the other day. You argue based upon principles. And that’s what we need to get back to of what are the principles on which this nation was founded and what are the truths that our nation was founded upon or that any nation should be founded upon. But getting back to art, making your discourse based upon principles, not your opinion.
SPEAKER 03 :
Yeah, that’s a critical distinction that you’re bringing up, because a lot of people will use language like, I feel like this, or this makes me angry, or this is how I was raised. But it’s not connected to our constitution and understanding our rights. And that’s how you get someone like Mom Dami as… uh mayor of of our largest city in the united states and under everybody’s noses he deceived so many people but he’s a socialist and he believes in things that are and the antithesis of what our country was founded on. And it’s pretty scary. So I hope in the next election people change their ways. But we have run out of time, Jill. We have to land our plane. I could talk forever. Let’s talk about it over some gingerbread, over some coffee. You come over to the house, and we’ll continue talking about it. But I just appreciate all the things that you stand for and the fact that we can share in these conversations like-minded and even disagree sometimes. We don’t always agree on things. And I learn so much from you every time that I talk to you. Thank you.
SPEAKER 02 :
Back at you there, sister.
SPEAKER 03 :
Thank you for all that you’re doing, especially with LPR and advancing and looking for people to bring into the fold to continue to educate them on our founding principles and our values. So to my listeners, thank you so much for tuning in and catch me next time. And remember that educating the mind without the heart is no education. So seek wisdom, cultivate virtue and speak truth.
SPEAKER 01 :
Thanks for tuning in to Restoring Education in America with Priscilla Rahn. Visit PriscillaRahn.com to connect or learn how you can sponsor future episodes to keep this message of faith, freedom, and education on the air.
