Commentary: Mooney's Class
Antelope Valley Press
Edward Mooney, Jr.
September 26, 2005

Title: Teacher Training, Lesson 2

"Welcome to the second meeting of basic teacher training. Last week we discussed the fallacy that schools are swimming in money. Tonight I’d like to touch on issues surrounding control and success.” The professor looked up from his overhead projector.

“Professor?” A voice echoed across the room.

“I see we have our observer from last week with us again! Back for more?" The older man smiled as he pointed toward the back of the room. The woman nodded then spoke up.

"I figure if schools are missing $3,000 per student then that must be the tip of the iceberg. I came back to find out how else our elected leaders are shortchanging our students."

"I'm not sure that you really want to know." The professor removed several books from his briefcase.

"What do you mean?"

"Many people don't think through what our leaders really say – they don't take the second step of analysis. Many folks just read the surface, and don't look beneath."

"I think I disagree," the young woman nervously said. The professor smiled.

"I see we're going down a familiar path, but since it dovetails with my lesson then let's go there. I suspect you have something in mind." The professor gestured with an open hand as he sat down.

"Yes. Teachers are always complaining about how Senator Runner isn't trying to help schools - how he's hurting schools. Some say he favors charter schools." The young woman rose.

"I've heard that opinion. Go on."

"Well, Senator Runner just sponsored legislation to more tightly regulate charter school funding. The AV Press reported it. Doesn't that show he's unbiased?"

"I read that piece in the paper. I also read his statement that he hated to put more controls on those schools because it stifles creativity and thus reduces the probability of success, or something like that."

"Yes, and I can't believe you would disagree with that!" The young woman smiled.

"Never! Mikhail Gorbachev once said that the best way to crush initiative and innovation is to centralize control, and he's absolutely correct."

"So George Runner is in good company." The woman smiled.

"Yes, he is, but there's a catch that's hiding right beneath the surface of his statement."

"A catch? How can there be a catch in less regulation?"

"When it doesn't apply to public schools." The professor reached for some papers.

"What?"

"Public schools. Senator Runner has been calling for something he calls 'accountability' for public schools for years."

"What's wrong with that?"

"Again, nothing, if it's applied equally and logically. Young lady, his version of 'accountability' translates into 'more control to the central state'. It's getting so that there's nothing a school can do without getting state approval first. Local school boards are being stripped of authority more every year."

"I don't get where you're going."

"It's simple, really. If Senator Runner truly feels that less control means better schools, then why is he pushing for more state control of public schools? Look at this - by his very own definition, less control means more success. Thus, it logically follows that more control means failure. Our good Senator is calling for more control of public schools. That's prescribing failure!"

"How is that?"

"Let me ask you this - why isn't he calling for less control of public schools at the same time, if less control means more success? If both public schools and charter schools receive public money, why are they treated differently? I wonder if he wants success in charter schools and failure in public schools, because that's what it seems he's saying to me. This is another form of the old 'double standard'."

"What's a ‘double standard’?"

"Well," the professor blushed, "to be blunt, it used to be okay for a man to sleep around, but not a woman."

"That's wrong! The same rule should apply to both sides!" The woman growled.

"Yep, we called that the old 'double standard'. Wasn't popular with half of the population back then. I see it still isn't. Class dismissed for this week. I think you got my point."

Thought for the Week: "I believe that truth has only one face: that of a violent contradiction." - Georges Bataille

Edward Mooney, Jr., of Palmdale, is a teacher at Quartz Hill High School and the author of the novels "The Pearls of the Stone Man" and "The Journey of the Stone Man".