Sunday, January 29, 2006

An Apparent Win For The Good Guy (Who Has An Apparently Bad Disposition For Teaching)

Previously I've discussed the concept of "disposition", and how ed schools now seem to take prospective teachers' political beliefs into account before, or sometimes after, admitting them. Here's the story of the long legal battle waged by a student who was kicked out of college for expressing support for corporal punishment.

McConnell’s ordeal began with a November 2004 assignment in which he advocated, as part of an ideal classroom, an environment “based upon strong discipline and hard work” and that could include “corporal punishment.” McConnell earned an “A-” for the paper. But in January 2005, Education Department Chair Cathy Leogrande summarily dismissed McConnell, citing a “mismatch between [his] personal beliefs regarding teaching and learning and the Le Moyne College program goals.” At the time he was dismissed, McConnell had achieved a grade-point average of 3.78 and had received an “excellent” evaluation for his work in an actual classroom.


I guess the school was saying, "He's not like us. He's not our kind."

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