“This chapter belongs to us. These children belong to us.” – Gov. Bev Perdue
What the hell is wrong with this woman? Is she off her meds? Is she on her mint juleps? Even more bizarre, why does the North Carolina Association of Educators think this a great and wonderful quote to trumpet to the world?
It merely confirms to many parents that much of the public school establishment views their kids as school system property — as raw material to be turned into paychecks. Or held hostage in the case of CMS and middle school sports.
Besides, it is simply false to make teachers — public, private, tutors, whatever — the primary custodians of children. Teachers are hired help, nothing more — and nothing less. They cannot replace parents. Period.
More broadly, teachers are not professionals. They are artisans because teaching is more art than science. But that notion runs counter to the lock-step, top-down, proto-labor union mindset of the NCAE. (Not to mention the social science mafia.) For that reason every discussion about public education gets mutated into some fanciful “jobs” headcount. The goal is to maximize the number of teacher jobs — not educate kids.
Where the kids come in — as Bev has wonderfully illustrated — is with the money. Control the kids, you control the money the public wants to spend to educate them; you control the money and you can spend it on yourself and your political allies. Allies that then go out to round up more kids for you to control and hence get even more money.
At least until you run out of kids — or somebody starts bragging about the racket.
