Snow is cold. The sun is hot. NCAE opposes a Republican. | Eastern North Carolina Now

   Publisher's note: Brant Clifton states the political obvious in his "bare knuckles" Conservative online publication known as The Daily Haymaker.

    The N&O is presenting the surprising, shocking news that the NC Association of Educators is upset with GOP gubernatorial nominee -- and general election frontrunner -- Pat McCrory. Apparently the union is mad about the fact that McCrory supports (1) charter schools, and 2) charter schools that are run by a company being "investigated" for using uncertified teachers.

    These days, the public education establishment is ALL ABOUT scooping up the most taxpayer money as possible while indoctrinating all employees and students with leftist pabulum. Universities are turning out education majors who can prattle on and on about "diversity" and "self-esteem," but have to consult the teacher's edition of a textbook to tell you about math and science.

    I have a friend who retired as a partner in one of the world's largest accounting and financial management firms. He is a CPA with oodles and oodles of education and life experience in mathematics, accounting, and finance. Upon his retirement, he acted on a long-time desire to give back to his home community by teaching math and finance to high school kids. You would THINK the local school system would LOVE having an instructor with his kind of background. But NO. He was refused because he was not "certified."

    What is this all-important, highly-vital certification all about? A friend of mine currently teaches third grade in an area public school. To maintain her certification, she has had to attend 18 hour seminars on topics like "Children in Poverty," "Nutritious school lunches," and "Discipline & Self-Esteem." It's indoctrination. It's not about making sure that you have the best and brightest teaching the kids. It's not about reinforcing your knowledge and skills in the subject matter you teach. It's about brain-washing the faculty so they can turn around and brain-wash the students.

    I teach courses at the community college level. We're seeing kids coming out of high school who can tell you all about self-esteem but can't write a few coherent paragraphs about a chapter they just read. (Some of the writing I see from native-born high school grads looks like it was produced by first graders or English-as-a-Second-Language students.) More than two-thirds of kids coming out of high school and enrolling in community colleges NEED remedial help in English, Math and Science.

    It is a shame that the NCAE is all about keeping this broken system as-is. The system is failing at its primary mission: preparing kids so they can go off and be productive, successful members of society.

    Kids from wealthier families -- with mom AND dad living in the house, helping with studying and homework -- will continue to do JUST FINE within the current system. But THAT is a small percentage of the student pool. What about the rest? How is all of this "self-esteem" and "diversity" stuff going to empower a lower-income kid to pull himself up by his bootstraps?

    We need to look around for ANYTHING that will do a better job of serving our students. Kudos to Mayor Pat. He needs to stand strong on this issue.