When I read this story, I realized at once what the problem was with American education--the abusive and idiotic bureaucrats who run the show. The thug in question is one Wilfredo T. Laboy, a super-intendent in Mass. who saw fit to lay off 24 teachers on UNPAID leave because they failed the same BASIC ENGLISH test that he himself failed THREE TIMES.
You'd think ol' Laboy could afford a private tutor to help him learn some basic English, especially considering he receives $156,560 from the state annually, and has just secured a much-needed 3% pay hike. Here I am, worried sick about how I'm going to pay my rent next month, while this guy sweats over whether or not he'll have time to take the yacht out this weekend.
"What brought me down was the rules of grammar and punctuation," Laboy said. "English being a second language for me, I didn't do well in writing. If you're not an English teacher, you don't look at the rules on a regular basis."
Sniff. Poor old super intendent of schools; someone pass me a hanky, please. Funny that a SUPER-INTENDENT OF SCHOOLS would sneer at learning and following basic rules. I guess it's understandable; he spent so much of his time in school studying economics to learn how to extort money that he didn't have no time to study no grammar. I guess the second part to this should be, "And, if you're an English teacher, you don't look at the salary charts of the administration." That he uses his ESL status as an excuse for failing the test is the most offensive part--we all know ESL students who work diligently to, in my experience at least, master the 'basic rules' far better than the average American student!
To my mind, this is precisely the problem with American education. We have tyrants like this in the most powerful positions, who funnel nearly all of the money that should go to hard-working teachers (or better classrooms) into their own pockets. I doubt Laboy has done anything else during his time in office than impose arbitrary measures like the one he can't seem to live up to. What do we get in return for the $156,000 we hand to Mr. Laboy each year?
Laboy is a native Spanish speaker in a Spanish-dominant area
It seems to me that this issue is less about administrative incompetence than it is about the English-only vs. bililingual education debate.
Dennis G. Jerz
Literacy Weblog
I used to post here with the ID JerzDG.
What concerns me is this guy
What concerns me is this guy laid off 24 teachers for failing the same test. In other words, he's a tyrant; a true super-intendent would have resigned if he could not live up to the same standards he enforced for others.