Those Who Can't, Teach

A couple of days ago I posted a mild critique of our public school system. Little did I suspect that modest post would trigger an explosion of bizarre behavior by teachers and administrators around the country.

Example 1:

Government employees are inspecting pre-schoolers' lunch boxes and substituting school-provided food for home-packed lunches when, in the opinion of the Food Police, the home-packed lunches don't meet government requirements.

"Your children vill eat vhat ve say, not vhat you pack..."

Example 2:

A middle-school student was strip-searched in front of his classmates after one of them accused him of possessing marijuana, even though (1) the accusing student admitted he was lying before the strip search, (2) the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in 2009 that school officials can't perform even a partial strip search of a student, regardless of whether or not there is probable cause, and (3) this same school district was sued (and lost) less than ten years earlier in a case where a mass strip search (!) of students was found unconstitutional.

If school officials can't learn, how on earth can they expect their students to?

Example 3:

A teacher required her fifth-grade students to send Christmas cards, which included the kids' names and addresses, to a prison inmate charged with child pornography and currently serving time on weapons and stalking charges.

The teacher is in trouble with her bosses, not for having the kids communicate with a convicted perv, but for having them participate in Christmas activities.

Example 4:

Kindergarteners were forced to memorize and perform a chant worshiping praising barack obama.

Rumor has it the lesson plan was adopted from a North Korean school, substituting "obama" for "Kim Jong-il."

I was at a loss to explain all this foolishness until I stumbled across this story, which makes everything clear as a bell (H/T GOC).

School Official: Parents Don't 'Know What Actually is Best' for Children

Debbie Squires, an education official for the Michigan Elementary and Middle School Principals Association, states that parents, 'may WANT what's best for their child,' but, 'they may not KNOW [what's best for their child].' During a Michigan House Committee meeting determining parents’ school choice, she claims that educators know better than parents when it comes to children.

Squires explains that, ‘educators go through education for a reason,” to later imply that child-caring requires special education. She elaborates that parents, or, ‘individual residents,’ lack the vision of ‘what actually is best from an education standpoint’ for their children.

Educators go through education for a reason, all right. It's the easiest major in the country, and as such attracts the least qualified students.

Slackers wanting to earn the country's easiest college major, should major in education.

It's easy to get "A's" if you're an education major. Maybe that's why one out of 10 college graduates major in education.

Research over the years has indicated that education majors, who enter college with the lowest average SAT scores, leave with the highest grades. Some of academic evidence documenting easy A's for future teachers goes back more than 50 years.

There are several undesirable consequences of this 'race to the bottom,' but perhaps the most damning is that "Low grading standards in education departments may contribute to the culture of low evaluation standards in education more generally..."

Boy howdy, I'm here to testify there's a boatload of truth in that last sentence, both from working with College of Education faculty and from dealing with their output in my classes.

There's a strong correlation between people with education degrees and government employment.

Coincidence?

I think not...