For those of you who don't recognize the metaphor, "The Emperor's New Clothes" is a short story by Hans Christian Andersen.
Two weavers promise a new suit of clothes to an Emperor. They further claim that the clothing is made from material that is invisible to those who are stupid, incompetent, or unfit for their positions. As the Emperor parades down a public street stark naked, everyone pretends to see his new clothes. Obviously none of them believe he's actually wearing invisible clothing but they're all terrified of losing their jobs or being treated as though they were stupid or incompetent. The ice is broken when a child, too young to truly appreciate the importance and value of mass denial yells, "But he's not wearing any clothes at all."
And that's where I come in. The massive fraud of public trust that's being perpetrated in New Bedford is badly in need of a shameless child.
For the past several weeks I've been posting comments on the New Bedford Educators Association weblog under the name of "The Elephant." I began as an anonymous poster but after using the metaphor, "The Elephant In The Room" in one of my comments I've since been using the name, "The Elephant."
Click here to drop by. Enjoy the biting sarcasm. Add to the biting sarcasm. It's good therapy.
6 comments:
In my fairy tale, Durkin is the evil stepmother and Unger and mayor are selling poison apples. The SC didn't live happily ever after.
Rub a dub, dub, three duds in a tub. And, who do do you think they be? The butcher, the faker, and teacher- hater...
Dear Stupidintendent Durkin. The land of Oz has a job opening for a new Wicked Witch - please hurry and apply. Take your flying monkeys with you...Nobrega, Oliveira, Pollack, Amaral, Livramento, Finnerty, and don't forget to take along Mitchell....maybe he can replace the Mayor of Oz. You are MORE than qualified to win and accept this job opportunity! We don't want you here in New Bedford.
I think Unger needs to be invited to teach English at the high school for a solid year. I'd like to read his comments after that particular stint.
The Elephant humbly apologizes for failing to change the settings of my weblog so that everyone could leave a comment. If I clicked on the right box it should work now.
But Mr. Unger is soooooo well-qualified to be criticizer-in-chief of the NB School Dept. After all, he taught in a VERY dangerous little town in Vermont thirty years ago. He knows what dangers teachers in large urban school districts face on a daily basis. Mr. Unger knows everything. He is very, very smart. And so is Mr. Urbon. He's so smart, I bet he could have designed rockets for a living had he chosen to do so. Then again, probably not. He's no rocket scientist.
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