John McCain said a lot of dumb things last night, and a lot of what he said has been scrutinized, deconstructed, debunked, and otherwise destroyed. I haven’t noticed that anyone picked up on this gem:
We need to encourage programs such as Teach for America and Troops to Teachers where people, after having served in the military, can go right to teaching and not have to take these examinations which — or have the certification that some are required in some states.
(Transcript of debate can be found here)
Now, I know we’re supposed to worship the troops and all, but surely I’m not the only one who thinks this suggestion is bat shit crazy, and I don’t care who else supports it, even if Obama is one of them. McCain criticizes the quality of education in this country, and then suggests that we privilege unqualified people to get precedence to teach in our schools, just because they’ve been in Iraq. Since when does being a soldier qualify anyone to be a teacher? If we don’t require teachers to pass those elitist “examinations” or get those snooty “certifications” (my recollection is that McCain said those words dismissively) how precisely are we to get people who are qualified to teach? Maybe this type of thinking is a byproduct of his personal belief that his own psyche scarring experience as a POW somehow makes him more qualified to be president than someone who has not been traumatized. Or, maybe it’s just consistent with the right wing belief that we should be teaching mythology and not facts, so that anyone will do, the more unqualified the better. Whatever the reason, this proposal makes no sense. There was a time when we looked on the military as a necessary evil. During Vietnam we unfairly maligned the military for the sins of their civilian bosses. Now, to atone for the sins of the sixties (this won’t stop until the last hippie dies) we nearly deify them, except when it comes to actually funding the programs they deserve. McCain’s proposal is so absurd that it’s almost comical, but we will hear nothing about that fact from either the media or the Democrats, because stating the obvious would be an unfair attack on the sacrosanct “troops”.
UPDATE: I am informed by a reliable source that the Troops to Teachers Program does not actually allow a returning soldier to go into teaching without getting proper certification. So this is just another example of McCain’s abysmal ignorance. Nonetheless, the fact that he’d be in favor of the program as he envisioned it speaks volumes about his qualifications to be President. I wouldn’t let someone who thinks like that on a local school board. The truth is that the Republicans have nominated two people to the highest offices in the land, neither one of which is qualified to be President.
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