Posted on

Why People Hate Teachers

As a teacher and a lifelong student, I have always been wary of those who choose to aggressively use a blue editor pencil to belittle an author, or a teacher who wields a red pen like a cudgel to punish a student writing effort.  U.S. Representative Mark Takano is a teacher who has, unfortunately, proven himself to be in the latter category as a pedantic wonk who ruins the idea teaching to learn by making a mockery of the important and real process of revision.

Here’s what Rep. Takano said on his Tumblr account — as he tried to explain his overzealous political persecution of the other side of the aisle — and he oddly starts his defense with an incomplete sentence:

A draft letter by Republican members to Speaker Boehner is circulating congress looking for cosigners. I thought I’d offer my edits to the author before they submitted their final version… Still not signing it.

Continue reading → Why People Hate Teachers

Posted on

Petting the Mainstream Middling Mind: An Indictment Against Standardized Testing

I have never been a fan of standardized testing in schools.  There’s too big a variable at play — missing the wild mind — and these tests praise and condone only the middle.  If you don’t do well on these tests, you are not moved forward or thought of as a significant thinker.  The system doesn’t mind if your wild view of the world matters.  The only thing the test givers care about is finding, and approving, the mainstream, middling, mind to guarantee, and impress, conformity.

Continue reading → Petting the Mainstream Middling Mind: An Indictment Against Standardized Testing

Posted on

Romney Wants Fewer Teachers, Cops and Firefighters

The National Education Association is righteously furious over Mitt Romney’s want for fewer teachers, cops and firefighters:

GOP presidential hopeful Mitt Romney’s disdainful comments on Friday about needing fewer teachers, police officers and firefighters showed how out of touch he is with middle class America. Appearing today on “Fox News Sunday” with Chris Wallace, Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels, a high-profile Romney campaign supporter and potential candidate for vice president, continued the attack on working families when he called for the elimination of unions for teachers, police officers and firefighters.

“Mitch Daniels is wrong. America isn’t better off when teachers can’t advocate for their students or first-responders can’t negotiate for better training and more safety equipment—which could mean the difference between life and death,” said NEA President Van Roekel, who also appeared on the morning news program. “These divisive and politically motivated tactics Gov. Daniels is pushing to help the Romney campaign are disrespectful and demeaning to the people who teach our children, protect our communities and run into burning buildings to save lives.”

Continue reading → Romney Wants Fewer Teachers, Cops and Firefighters

Posted on

The Grocery Store Society and the Loss of Professional Vocabulary

In case you don’t already know it — we live in a consumerist society in the USA — and that’s a terrible notion for everyone in this nation, because we’ve become this messy ganglia of customers looking for the best price and never the better value.

Continue reading → The Grocery Store Society and the Loss of Professional Vocabulary

Posted on

As CUNY Drowns in Remedial Studies

CUNY — The City University of New York — is a unique institution dedicated to teaching “regular people” really great things at a highly affordable, yet sophisticated, intellectual level.  If you have a high school diploma, or an equivalent degree, a CUNY college is required to accept you as a student.

Continue reading → As CUNY Drowns in Remedial Studies