You're correct about my confusion with regard to the posts. It was late. I was tired.
The reason the "stupid" explanation's gratifying and narcissistic is that what it really means is "I'd never be that stupid". But there's been a more or less continuous stream of such stories as long as I can remember which means part of the unwritten job description of school administrators has to be that they be significantly stupider then the average person.
But is there any evidence, beyond the linked and similar stories, of administrator stupidity? Do public school administrators, typically, require help dressing themselves? Do they live in group homes? Do they have difficulty making change?
No there isn't any such evidence and, in fact, the response could just as easily, and accurately, be that administrators are poopie-heads. But wording it that way wouldn't conceal the fact that the complainer is engaged in impotent name-calling.
And it's important to conceal from one's self any truths about the public education system one of which is that the sorts of "stupid" decisions being derided aren't, in fact, stupid but an inevitable result of the public education system.
Like I wrote over at Joanne's blog, "stupid" may be a very gratifying, and narcissistic, explanation but it's also a lousy explanation.
ReplyDeleteI assume you meant this comment for the "Only educators could be this stupid" post.
ReplyDeleteI disagree with you. I don't see how it's narcissistic, and while it doesn't excuse their behavior it certainly does describe it.
You're correct about my confusion with regard to the posts. It was late. I was tired.
ReplyDeleteThe reason the "stupid" explanation's gratifying and narcissistic is that what it really means is "I'd never be that stupid". But there's been a more or less continuous stream of such stories as long as I can remember which means part of the unwritten job description of school administrators has to be that they be significantly stupider then the average person.
But is there any evidence, beyond the linked and similar stories, of administrator stupidity? Do public school administrators, typically, require help dressing themselves? Do they live in group homes? Do they have difficulty making change?
No there isn't any such evidence and, in fact, the response could just as easily, and accurately, be that administrators are poopie-heads. But wording it that way wouldn't conceal the fact that the complainer is engaged in impotent name-calling.
And it's important to conceal from one's self any truths about the public education system one of which is that the sorts of "stupid" decisions being derided aren't, in fact, stupid but an inevitable result of the public education system.