I weep for the state of public education today.

If the teachers who blog regularly on this site are any education, FAR too many of our teachers are graduating with the notion that they are ALWAYS right and that there is no room for debating their position (inbloom, alisonwatkins, and select others, this does NOT apply to you). Worse yet, they apparently lack the skills to read in context.

The whole topic was keyed off when an educator discussed a situation they had  handled. I felt it could have been handled differently, in a way that was more respective of the rights of all concerned, but rather than post a nasty diatribe, I posted constructive criticism. In the second paragraph of my column, I even explained that I understood the person was well meaning but those were some helpful suggestions for the NEXT time.

I was flamed for it. The very person who had asked for advice apparently only wanted "advice" that praised them as a hero, as the brave soldier who protected their children from big, bad, evil mommy. The fact is, I didn't see it that way, and I wasn't going to PRETEND to see it that way.

We should all be VERY concerned when our educators have such poor social skills that they can't handle the slightest criticism without flying off the handle. When they are expected to teach our children how to arbitrate disputes and cannot themselves interact diplomatically with others to arbitrate their OWN disputes. And, even worse, when they are PAID with state dollars, to EDUCATE their children, yet spend an inordinate amount of time on the computer blogging during time they are PAID to be teaching, grading, or preparing lesson plans.