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May 01, 2006
Teacher Of The Year Selected For Pandering To Immigrants
If immigrants are no different than the rest of us, then why should this prestigious award go to a teacher noted for teaching students from immigrant backgrounds, 90% of whom are on public assistance? Apparently the parents are not so ignorant of American ways that they've never heard of welfare.
If we are suppose to be color blind, why does it even come up in the story where these pupils hail from?
Thus the key to winning this honor is not so much about perfecting one's skills and expertise as a teacher but rather about rendering such skills in the service of the ongoing social revolution seeking to transform the fundamental nature of American society.
Last year's winner, Jason Kamras (a District of Columbia Math teacher who selected pedagogy as his life’s work because he thinks "high quality schools for economically disadvantaged students is the greatest social injustice facing America today") is quoted on the National Teacher of the Year website as saying, "My intense desire to see my school excel comes not only from an unwavering belief that all students deserve an excellent education, but also the unique role Sousa played in the civil rights movement...To honor the school’s unique role in the movement, I feel compelled to guarantee that it serves as an agent of social change, advancing those who have been ignored or constrained."
What business is this of a math teacher? It is his job to teach students how to add and subtract, not to indoctrinate them in utopian theory. After all, even these students need to know basic arithmetic to determine whether they have gotten the right amount of government cheese or that their food stamps have been tabulated correctly.
Had this teacher seen his students as individuals to be taught career skills rather than as components of some demographic shift to be channeled for the benefit of the elite, I doubt his name would have ever come up for consideration. And the same goes for the 2006 winner as she makes a big to-do about teaching minority children rather than children as children.
Sadly, as with most other aspects of the education system, it seems the Teacher of the Year award is not about encouraging people to stand on their own two feet but rather about fostering dependency upon the COMMUNITY.
Posted by Frederick at May 1, 2006 07:46 AM
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I have to admint, I find it deeply disturbing that the "teacher of the year" claims to find "high quality schools" to be a great "social injustice."
But I guess that's why he's not an English teacher.
Oh, and Frederick? There's no way for an end-user to figure out if his "food stamps have been tabulated correctly," so I wouldn't worry about it if I were you.
But I do have to say that there seems to be a disturbing undercurrent here that I can't quite put a name to. I'm not sure Jack Kemp would share your disdain for the idea of teaching the underpriveleged as a sort of higher calling. Or JC Watts. Or President Bush.
There is, in fact, something noble about teaching those who are--no doubt about it--harder to teach and easier to give up on. Perhaps they are more likely to be underserved because of the very attitude I'm getting from this article. I don't actually see how encouraging excellence and "helping advance those who have been ignored or constrained" is "fostering dependence" at all.
It sounds to me more like he is trying to educate these disadvantaged children precisely so they CAN stand on their own two feet and NOT become dependent on the community (and, we all know, that leads eventually to conservatism, so it's a GOOD thing!)
You must hate all those "teacher-turns-around-lost-kids" movies, right? (Stand and Deliver; Dead Poets Society; To Sir With Love; Blackboard Jungle; Mr. Holland's Opus. I could go on.)
Posted by Kerry ![[TypeKey Profile Page]](http://www.pardonmyenglish.com//nav-commenters.gif)
at May 1, 2006 09:50 AM
In addition, I really don't understand your objection to THIS year's teacher of the year, Kimberly Oliver, who seems to be using a model of teaching conservatives can celebrate--focusing on the role of parents in their children's education, overcoming learning problems by investing more time in teaching and tutoring, and developing programs to help the kids improve their performance and that of the school overall.
I hate to say this, but you *seem* to be objecting mostly to the fact that her classroom is multi-ethnic and the school is mostly low income.
But surely that can't be it.
Posted by Kerry at May 1, 2006 09:58 AM
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