Thought crime [link]

And you wonder what the educational establishment could possibly do to make teachers even worse? Check out the column by John Leo about the "dispositions theory" established five years ago by the National Council for Accreditation of Teacher Education (NCATE): Future teachers should be judged by their "knowledge, skills, and dispositions."

The key word is "dispositions." Just as some members of the ABA rated Robert Bork poorly because he lacked a judicial temperament (because ONLY a liberal can have the proper judicial temperament) now the NCATE could make it possible for schools, colleges, and universities to reject teaching candidates because of their political beliefs.

"In 2002, NCATE said that an education school may require a commitment to social justice. William Damon, a professor of education at Stanford, wrote last month that education schools "have been given unbounded power over what candidates may think and do, what they may believe and value."

* * * *

"A few students rebelled when a teacher at Brooklyn College School of Education showed Michael Moore's movie "Fahrenheit 9/11" in class and dismissed "white English" as "the language of oppressors." Five students filed written complaints and received no formal reply from the college. One was told to leave the school and take an equivalent course at a community college. Two of the complaining students were then accused of plagiarism and marked down one letter grade. The two were refused permission to bring a witness, a tape recorder, or a lawyer to meet with a dean to discuss the matter."

Isn't this just lovely?