As IF Times

link What Happened to Obama’s Passion? – NYTimes.com.

Even after 3 years and ample evidence from which to draw some rational conclusions, people like Drew Westen are still delusional.  If you read through Westen’s opinions, the answer to the query posed in his headline is embedded within, but despite this, he is unable to make the connection with reality.  It’s as if he knows it, but can’t admit it due to ideological hard wiring.

While he may ask “what happened to Obama’s passion?”, the realists who were not drawn into Obama’s soaring rhetoric already know what happened to it.  It never existed.  It existed only in the minds of the people who,  as Weston describes it, would rather hear stirring stories than face harsh facts.  Westen acknowledges that the vast populace can be taken in by soothing rhetoric and statements that have no basis in reality.  It’s not Obama that has lost his passion.  It’s that reality has set upon the vast populace who naively bought the Pied Piper-like messages offered by his campaign.  As a politician, he has been as masterful as anyone has  ever been in American history,  aided by a complicit and adoring media.

History tells us that we should be skeptical of all politicians, whatever their affiliation. When a nation adopts a Messianic figure like Obama without paying any regard to his complete lack of accomplishments but solely on his ability to read speeches, it is not the fault of the candidate, it is the fault of the naive public.  And of course  the media which allowed this to happen.   Certainly there’s nothing wrong with invoking touchy-feely rhetoric about world peace and equality.  But if that was the only prerequisite for leading a nation, any of the last dozen or so Miss Americas could have been  just as eligible.

Although Westen claims to be an educated professional, he adamantly clings to the cliche notions that it is the usual villains of Wall Street, big business and of course the Republicans that are to blame for all malaise that affects the nation.  Now, with the brunt of reality facing them, delusionals like Westen blame Obama for changing when in fact it has been their own fairyland worldviews that are flawed.

As long as we have enlightened people like Westen avoiding reality, what chance is there that the plain folk will be able to make sense of what to do?  My hope is, plenty.  I’d be willing to bet that the drape of mass delusion that has shrouded a huge contingent of American voters has lifted.  My bet is that the preposterous statements that emanate out of the White House which are completely incongruent with reality, will start to fall on skeptical ears.  A few articles back, I made mention of the similarity of what’s happening in US politics now with the premise of  the old 1962 movie, The Music Man, which depicts a town of rubes taken in by the optimistic promises of  a hustling salesman.  The moral from the movie is the same as the moral we can apply to real life:  The only real changes come from within, not through someone else.  Westen should absorb that instead of the fairy tales he’s used to.  Enough of the storytelling already.

link Teacher who blogged about her lazy students gets her job back – On Deadline – USATODAY.com.

When someone decides on a career in teaching, presumably they are pursuing some idealistic dream of conveying knowledge and enlightening young minds.  It must be a jarring jolt of reality when the classroom experience is one of indifference, hostility and entitlement from students. 

Hamstrung by administrators and political rot, there is more and more anecdotal evidence that the effectiveness of teachers is being compromised by the stifling social malaise of entitlement, at least in the public schools.  One of the most insidious forms of entitlement is that of censorship.  If you can’t even call a spade a spade, then the whole notion of an enlightened education is moot.   Students have been unruly and petulant forever, according to such experts as Aristotle and Socrates.  It appears that it’s only been in recent history that such behaviour is supported by administrators, parents and society at large.  Ironically, while the whole world fights for access to education, in our culture, people fight for the right of not having to learn.

Consequently, we observe instances of kids who have notionally graduated, but for all intents and purposes are functional idiots.  Legend by now are stories of teenagers and college graduates who can’t properly read or write and are then offered up to the unforgiving working world.  Since their academic and social skills are malformed, these kids are eligible only for entry level service jobs or as cast members on reality TV shows.  Teachers like the one featured in the story are no doubt discouraged that they act merely as enablers for students to be passed along to next processing station without any positive impact.   If kids are in fact lazy and entitled, shouldn’t that behaviour be called out?  The comments at the bottom of the article are the most amusing, because many are chastising the teacher for her candor, instead of realizing that it is their very defense of the ‘kids’ that is responsible for the malaise that affects education today.  As if it was the teacher that was at fault for not tolerating petulant kids.

Rahm Emmanuel, the new mayor of Chicago was publicly prickly when asked about where he sent his kids for schooling.  Like many wealthy people, his kids were attending private schools.  While the quality of teaching may be arguably better at the private schools, it’s likely the main difference is the culture that contrasts with the public schools.  At private schools, there are thresholds of achievement that must be met and certainly standards of behaviour much stricter than is enforced in the public system.  Parents pay for this.  They know that certain standards of academic and behavioral accomplishment must be met in order to be properly educated.   At the root of this education is a value system that encourages study, excellence and integrity, things that used to be taught in the public school system.  It’s a mystery as to why the public would allow their tax money to support a system that was any less rigorous.