Teaching Kids a Hard Lesson

The KCMO School District is in the process of selecting a Superintendent which will culminate this week. Community involvement is encouraged and there are a number of events scheduled where the public can not only meet the candidates but also ask them questions.

While that's all well and good, these types of functions don't really give us any insight into the character of the people wanting to take charge of our perennially crappy schools. First of all, interviews are going to be conducted by current members of the KC School Board and it's clear that they don't know anything about running a school district so they'll hardly know which questions to ask. Also, you only catch people on their best behavior during job interviews.

It's more important to know how a person performs under pressure.

That's why I'd like to nominate the Metro principal accused of choking a third grader. Not because I approve of choking kids (at least not all the time) but because you know where the guy stands. He's not going to be pushed around, least of all by any of his students . . . No matter how big or (in this case) small. This kind of approach could turn things around for the district.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not one of those crazy people who advocates more "discipline" in school and that corporal punishment nonsense. It's just that so few people understand what a real "education" really entails. Facts, figures, numbers . . . These are minor concerns . . . The most important thing an educated person learns is simply how to learn. (Bad grammar aside)

Anyway, there are also some choice lessons which we learn that are completely unrelated to the 4 R's but still manage to influence us throughout our lives. For instance, in Catholic School I learned that Mexicans are an unwanted sub group that merely exist to serve white people . . . With that knowledge I am qualified to be Chairman of the RNC. Other lessons include: Women coming to the understanding that self-esteem is only for men, good students quickly realize never to question authority and we all discover that the ranking of our school is directly proportionate to how many Black people attend.

Therefore, I'm sure that the child choking principal is sure to teach the kids of KC a few things they'll never forget. Mainly that you better not ever mess with the guy on a bad hair day or whatever. And still, this would be a more substantive education than what many KCMO School District kids currently receive.