Asshat Quote of the Day

"I never went to any student who didn't call me to help them cheat. But if somebody asked me a question, I wasn't willing to say, 'Just do your best.' They were my students, and I wanted to be there for them." - a veteran Philadelphia English teacher

So vast numbers of elementary school teachers simply changed the student's test answers in order to increase their scores.

Apparently the school districts were telling the teachers that if the students "under performed" their schools would be shut down and they would lose their jobs, and so instead of teaching the curriculum that was on the tests, they simply changed the test answers.

That's how the teachers were "there for them".

This is, of course, good news. In fact, the field I specialize in isn't being taught anywhere and there is more demand for my skill set than there are people who know how to do it. That's only increasing with time as people retire and such. My "boss" even recently told me that there was a very high demand for developers in my field - which is funny. She's not terribly bright.

The nation is being dumbed down at a rapid pace. Teachers are dumber than they used to be, and the students are generally dumber as well. There are some pockets where high income neighborhood schools are doing a good job, but that's not the norm.

When the goal of the whole thing is to increase income disparity, it's better for professionals to not have competition from a 25 year old that's willing to work for less money. There will still be new physicians, and to a lesser extent IT professionals and engineers, so we don't have to worry about suddenly not being able to get medical care... unless you're old and on Medicare.. then you should worry.

This story, though, will be fodder for the Loon Brigade to whine about the incompetence of the federal government and to further their argument that public schools should be abolished. That's the wrong answer. When you want to burn the whole thing down (metaphorically speaking), you need public schools, and you need them to be run by morons.

....

Speaking of my job.. it seems that the MegaCorp that I work for is not going to be able to bid for the work that I've been doing the last few years for the fed. I can stay with MegaCorp and work in a different part of the system, or I can go work for somebody else and stay with the current department. It's possible MegaCorp could sub-contract me out to the company that does win the bid, but I doubt they'll do that.

Since my skills are in short supply and high demand, I could use the opportunity to increase my pay. I really don't like switching jobs though. I've only had 3 of them in my life and I'm 44. This will happen in mid September, so we'll see how it shakes out.

I like the department I work with now.. it's low stress, and not like I'm slaving away all day, every day, pounding out code.