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When a society loses its memory, it descends inevitably into dementia. Mark Steyn
.

December 5, 2012

Why Johnny can't learn

His education is being overseen by imbecilic bureaucrats. Case in point:

Seminole high school shut down after student brings mercury thermometer to school

No one was put in harm's way, but a hazmat crew was there as a precaution.
Lol. If the report is accurate, the school was locked down over an intact mercury thermometer. Did they think it was radioactive? I'd love to know the salary of the (undoubtedly) highly credentialed education professional who made that call.

Hat tip to Rush.

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13 comments:

  1. So, I have to assume the school has taken a similarly prudent stand against CFL bulbs...

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  2. Cathy took the words out of my mouth...

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  3. Wonder if this was a big story in San Jose? Mercury News?? Never mind!

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  4. How did those of us of a certain age survive playing with the mercury from broken thermometers? Which was really fun, by the way.

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  5. If, instead of Mercury, he was carrying Venus, would these same Densa (inverse Mensa) charter-member school authorities have demanded, in the spirit of equality and "fairness", that the aforementioned student be...

    ...ahem...

    disarmed?

    ReplyDelete
  6. The story doesn't say, but you know it was the principal who hit the panic button. And you know that principal is a Doctor of Ed. making six figures of taxpayer money.

    A principal is an administrator is a manager. What does he manage, though? Teachers have tenure and union contracts that make them almost immune from being managed. So I guess he manages little "crises" like this one.

    We need to fix credentialing...

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    Replies
    1. The evidence actually points to a need to abolish credentialing. Albert Einstein would not have been allowed to teach high school physics because he didn't have the "credentials". But countless morons and loafers get to hide behind "credentials", and behind a total lack of accountability and competition thanks to monopoly union/government ownership of schools.

      There is also heavy correlation between higher per student spending ans worse performance. So we would be better off throwing less money at government schools

      Delete
    2. That actually happened with one of those Los Alamos physicists, I think Teller. He wanted to teach high school physics in San Francisco, and they turned him down for his lack of Ed. credentials. Imagine having Teller for a teacher in high school.

      American ed. is broken because it's set up to attract the party people. First comes the ed. major - party every night and still get a diploma. Then the job - summers off and long breaks at Christmas and Easter - party, party! Sickdays - I worked as a substitute back in the day, and subs are guaranteed employment on Mondays an Fridays because almost every weekend can be long! Then tenure - they can't fire you for a daily hangover.

      The party people used to avoid teaching because teachers had to make sacrifices for that most rewarding of professions - live in small houses, drive used cars. No longer! The Dems organized them.

      Of course there are still some wonderful, dedicated people in teaching, so don't write in all huffy. But if you are a teacher reading this, you know it's true. How many party people are "teaching" in your school? Would you let them teach your own kids?

      Delete
  7. There are degrees of stupid but this one actually broke the thermometer.

    Dave31

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  8. Condoms are legit. So are guns. But a contained thermometer is taboo. What did they use twenty years ago? Don't get me started on credentialing. With a degree, I spent upwards of hundreds of dollars trying to get credentialed, only to be told NO! and that I need to spend more money on classes.

    Disgusted with public ed.

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  9. But they can teach you to put a conundrum on a banana.

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