According to our local paper, our former School Superintendent last year gave his office manager a highly paid job as a special education teacher, though she lacked state certification as well as teaching experience.
This reminds me of a visit I made several years ago to a so-called special education classroom. I sat in on a class when the teacher announced they were going to do math. The teacher then proceeded to write on the board questions such as:
6>4 True or False
8>12 True or False
3>1 True or False
She asked the students their answers: true or false. They kept getting them wrong, according to the teacher. Then she gave her answers:
6>4 FALSE
8>12 TRUE
3>1 FALSE
OK, for those of us who fondly remember grade school math, the greater than/less than signs are like an alligator, right? The alligator’s mouth always opens toward the bigger number because it’s hungry and wants to eat more not less! When I pointed this out to the ‘teacher,’ she said she had been teaching it that way for years and so couldn’t be wrong. So much for hiring the best, having high expectations and teaching well.
By the way, the students in the class I was visiting were high school age, so they had sat through years of that kind of drivel.