WHY I LOVE...AND HATE...PUBLIC EDUCATION

"In the first place, God made idiots. That was for practice. Then he made school boards."
-Mark Twain

In Chicagoland, a school superintendent secretly videotaped interviews with new teachers, then edited in his own questions, making the teachers look like killers, strippers, and drug abusers. If John Stewart did this, it would be Emmy-winning entertainment. Let one openly gay school superintendent do it and academia is in high dudgeon.

Let's face it, this is funny. Very funny, and the people who are upset are pissed because they did not think 0f it first. Rich Mitchell, the superintendent did this for shits and giggles, then aired it before 500 faculty and staff back on August 24th, 2006. It was part of a discussion about how to inject humor and laughter in the workplace. But these assholes aren't laughing, mainly because someone made fun of them.

In one of the funnier interchanges, Mitchell asks a prospective teacher the following:

Mitchell: "Do you have nickname?"

Answer: "Yeah, predator."

Mitchell: "How do you like to unwind?"

Answer: "I enjoy a lot of leisure activities."

Mitchell: "Such as?"

Answer: "Killing."

Mitchell: "Who have you tried to kill?"

Answer: "Pat Welch."

Mitchell: "How do you plan on getting away with all of this?"

Answer: "I think that's my aim, to find out."

Mitchell, at the very least, deserves points for creativity in writing the fake questions to maximize the comedy factor. This may also give Mitchell the street cred to go to Hollywood and flog a screenplay, or to become a screenwriter. This is hilarious.

The point is that we as a society have become so wound up in our own importance that we have forgotten how to laugh at ourselves. We feel uncomfortable with this type of humor, or ethnic humor, because deep down inside we don't want to admit that we have prejudices and fears and discomfort with situations. Because we can not admit our own frailties, we become apoplectic when someone tells an off-color joke, or uses a slur, or even says a word like "niggardly."

The fact that someone puts together a DVD, making everyone the butt of jokes, is downright funny. And I would imagine that more than a few of these people who are upset may have called Mitchell, or some other openly gay person, a homo, faggot, or queer.

That is not to say that Mitchell has a right to do this because he is gay; but, rather, because it is funny, and he has a First Amendment right to make the video. And on another level, isn't it a bit odd that the National Endowment for the Arts will pay for a crucifix in urine, a bullwhip up a man's ass, or the Virgin Mary in dung; but, some humorless assbag gets worked up when an educator exhibits some of the traits that are so lacking in education today: humor, creativity, humility, and production values.

The Pool supports Mitchell in his bid to keep his job. Of course, that may not be good for him, but....

http://cbs2chicago.com/seenon/local_story_271231425.html