Comedy Central spoof doesn’t go deep in teacher-athlete comparison.
I sent a link in a recent email to a funny video (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dkHqPFbxmOU), which has gotten 5.2 million views on YouTube, in which Key and Peele (comedians on Comedy Central) appear to be broadcasting the NFL draft, but instead it's a draft for top teachers – the point being that how sad and messed up it is that our society celebrates and highly compensates professional athletes, but not teachers, who are obviously far more important to the future of our country. True enough – but Larry Sand makes some good points about how the unions make this a spurious comparison:
Comedy Central spoof doesn't go deep in teacher-athlete comparison.
The teachers "don't get no respect" catchphrase has been with us for some time now. Various lamenters have opined that teachers should have the status and income of rock stars or professional athletes. To that end, Comedy Central duo Key and Peele have rolled out "Teaching Center" – a spoof of ESPN's long-running "Sports Center." In the parody, teachers are substituted for athletes and the comedy team belts out the "top stories from the exciting world of teaching."
In its first week on YouTube, the video has gone viral, racking up almost 4.5 million views. Social media has been all atwitter about it and the establishment edu-press has been fawning. But anyone who gives the issue of teacher status and pay any thought will readily see a bunch of penalty flags. (I will use football and California in my analysis, though other sports and states could easily be substituted.)
· Football has a merit system – and commensurate pay for performance
· There is no tenure in football
· The NFL has no seniority rule
· Football is data driven
· Football is all about quality
But until we penalize the teachers unions, they will continue to get away with unnecessary roughness against high performing teachers. Teaching will remain an industrial-style job and unfortunately will never become the quality-driven profession it should be.
Unprofessional Conduct Penalty
By Larry Sand On August 4, 2015
posted by Whitney Tilson at 2:52 AM
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