It seems that Conor Friedersdorf has decided to go all mini-McArdle on us, and attempt to bluster through criticism of his juvenile attempt to solve all America’s education problems based on his in depth research into issues of teacher compensation and performance incentives.*
What results is an astonishing mixture of banal pretension, youthful bluster, and a persistent embrace of ignorance.
To channel a favorite cultural icon, let’s go to the videotape!
Friedersdorf begins by quoting an email from a former teacher who complains that (a) the definition of “good” as it modifies “teacher” varies by the person asked, and that (b) corporate America doesn’t fire their bottom 5-8% for the same reasons that Friedersdorf advocates.
Friedersdorf responds, “I dissent.”
Oh, FSM!
“Dissent?” How much self aggrandizement and delusion can be packed into a single word?
“I disagree”… or “Here’s what’s wrong with that”… or “Not so fast…” There are lots of ways to indicate the response to come. But dissent?
Here’s who dissents: William O. Douglas. John Bunyan, Henry David Thoreau. Not young Conor Friedersdorf, striving to bring aid and comfort to corporate captains ahead of the common run of humanity.
I’ll concede Friedersdorf mere accuracy under a dictionary definition; but the cultural affect of the word contains moral weight, and he knows it, and he ain’t got it. Its use here speaks of a small writer desperate to grow large.
Next Friedersdorf describes the worst teachers: “the ones who assault students, regularly show up late, or are consistently labeled underperforming by administrators, peers, and students alike.”
Note the sleight of hand: “underperforming” teachers are in the same category as thugs. And, of course, there are no numbers here. How many student-beaters are there? What are we talking here?