Greetings and Meat

The Greetings

Hello. My name is Eugene Intrigue and I am a new contributor to The Diary of Fools. The ever-gracious Blaine Fridley has asked me to share my thoughts and ramblings, to which I am ever grateful. This christendom brings me great pleasure from not only a cerebral level, but also…

“Zoinks! Like… where is the grub in this creepy habitat, Scoob?”

Umm… I, uh…

Hmm......

Like I was saying, my contributions to a site as stalwart as The Diary of Fools will hope to stand as a testament to the virility of independent thought, as well as…

“Mmuuunnhhh, like this Georgine guy is, like, Hong Kong Phooey, Scoob.”

(eyes pinched)

(staring)

What is this? What are you doing here? This is my exposition into greatness; my sally-forth into stardom. I can’t…… What are you doing here? This is preposterous. You’re Matthew Lillard! Surely you have better things to do than…

“Like, whoa there, man. Like, Scoob and I were looking for a midnight snack.”

What? Scoob and you? You’re not……

(sigh)

You’re an actor! You’re Matthew Lillard, not Shaggy from the Scooby Doo television show!

“Movie.”

Or movie! You have no business interrupting my introductory message to The Diary of Fools! Surely, your career could not have sunken to depths so low that interrupting blog introductions is your only means of exposure! What about Scream or SLC Punk? Or… umm… Thir13en Ghosts? Don’t you get any royalty income from any of those?

“No, I uhh…” (cough) “It’s pretty much dried up. This is what I do now. This is my thing. I’m still riding the SC franchise for all it’s worth and hoping that something pops up. I had a godaddy.com ad I was going to shill after some Scooby Doo shit. Do you mind if I still…”

Ahhh, no, that is not happening. My sincere condolences for the downward trajectory of your sputtering career, Mr. Lillard. Perhaps this snafu will help to find resolve and decency within your being, which will carry you into… umm… greater… oh, for fuck’s sake let’s get on with it.

The Meat

The Minnesota House of Representatives have introduced legislation that would allow non-traditional candidates to become licensed teachers. The goal of this legislation is to increase overall employment by allowing professionals in other fields to become teachers after taking a 5-week course. Upon completion of the course and approval by a resident mentor, the applicant will be presented with a valid teacher license and be certified as a qualified teacher within the state of Minnesota.

Is this a good thing? Hmm… Perhaps it is. Perhaps this will be an outlet which empowers today’s unemployed – today’s rejected masses – to veritably yank themselves via fraying bootstraps back into gainful, employed happiness. Once employed, these purveyors of know-how would have the scratch to make mortgage payments, car payments, McDonald’s payments, etc…, thus thrusting the MN economy out of the red and into surplus horizons.

Or…

Perhaps it’s not such a good thing. Perhaps it’s just the sort of short-sighted solution that has degraded not only Minnesota, but the country as a whole. By allowing non-teachers to become teachers by taking the equivalent of a summer school class, the State of Minnesota is creating a dangerous environment for their youth and drastically hampering their future in a myriad of ways.

Let’s use an illustrative example, shall we? Matthew, are you still here?

“Ahhh… Well, like is this guy talkin’ to me, Scoob? Or is he…”

Damn it, Lillard. You’re not Shaggy. It's been established that you’re not Shaggy. Stop it.

“At godaddy.com, you’ll not only be ensnared by sexual innuendo, you’ll also have the…”

No. No ads, no Shaggy. This is serious. Please.

“Sorry.”

Let’s use Matthew Lillard here for an example as to why it would be dangerous to allow anyone to easily become a teacher. Matthew, how long have you been out of work?

“Well, actually I’m not out of work. I’m playing the role of Lloyd B’Gosh in Osh Kosh B’Gosh: Under the Overall. I did it for free, though, which doesn’t pay any money.”

Osh Kosh B'Gosh - Under The Overall - Starring Matthew Lillard - watch more funny videos

That’s correct. Working for free yields no money. I imagine that you want money, though, and would do things you wouldn’t normally do to obtain money – such as shamefully plugging d-list websites.

“Yes. Yes, I would. I’d do anything for money. I would become a cooper, swallow swords, teach schoolchildren, steal body organs, fly…”

Aha. Thank you, Matthew. You’ve successfully illustrated my point. There’s beer in the fridge.

There are many, many unemployed citizens in Minnesota. The termination of their employment was likely beyond their control, leaving them in a worrisome and destitute state-of-being. These citizens are looking within their chosen profession for gainful employment. This search is largely fruitless, as jobs within said professions are being obliterated en masse. Soon it becomes apparent that the job search must be stretched to unknown professions, in an attempt to keep the lights on, heat on, mouths fed, and so on.

This is wholly understandable and commendable on many levels. I commend those increasing their knowledge bases and skill sets by re-training themselves to gain employment. What I have trouble supporting is legislation designed to create back doors to fully qualified positions in normally hard-earned, heavily-trained career paths, such as teaching. Not only for the teachers that are actively hunting for jobs, but also for today’s learners suffering from a lack of solid instruction.

A personal concern is that today’s youth is increasingly becoming stupider. What’s more disconcerting is an apparent, underlying trend that stupidity and apathy are fashionable. Hannah Montana does not care about Hundertwasser, thus a majority of children do not care about Hundertwasser. It’s hard to blame the creators of the Hannah Montana marketing machine, as it’s not their job to teach kids about art. It’s their job to make money. So, the onus is then placed on parents and teachers. Parents, by and large, would rather their kids be socially accepted than expound about art nouveau. So, then, it’s left to the teachers. It’s no guarantee that teachers will be able to punch through the Jonas Brother-strength exoskeletons, but I’d place my money on a teacher that’s studied intensively over the course of years, than Joe the Plumber who took a five-week training course for a teaching license, because, hey, it beats working at Taco John’s. The quality of Minnesota’s educators is important. We need more than talking heads in classrooms conducting crowd control and regurgitating state-issued testing material.

Knowing a subject and knowing how to effectively impart the intricacies of the subject are two different things. The notion of various professionals stepping into classrooms and adequately preparing children not only for subsequent grades, but life and the workplace is naïve. At most, these “teachers” will be able to teach the material that’s featured on standardized tests, so that the school district’s scores are up and monetary funding maintained. Meanwhile, children languish and look to other avenues (read: Hannah Montana) for life’s lessons. It takes a certain breed of educator to be able to step into a classroom and grab the rudder - steering pupils in a direction of knowledge, maturity and personal guidance. This breed of educator is not born overnight (or over 25 days) but rather forged through years of intensive study, classroom exposure and time logged in underground Muay Thai kickboxing dojos. Citizens from other areas of professionalism cannot, mentally or physically, learn classroom dynamics and bone-crunching arm bars in five weeks. It can’t be done.

As a whole, teachers across Minnesota are speaking out against this legislation. Cutbacks and lack of job availability has affected all areas of employment and educators are no exception. For years, the job market has been flooded with qualified teachers looking for their chance to get in the classroom and use the training they’ve acquired through years of study. To flood the market even further by allowing anyone to become a certified teacher after 5 weeks is not only inane, but fucking stupid.

There’s the nutshell. This whole thing is fucking stupid.

Tell your local representatives. Or you can send Tim Pawlenty a 3x5 index card that reads:

As MGMT eloquently stated, “This is a call to arms to live and love and sleep together… The youth are starting to change. Are you starting to change? Are you?” This means that you should value education, love today’s youth and… umm… sleep with strangers. I think that’s what that means. Yes, I’m certain now. You’re supposed to fuck strangers and whilst fucking tell them about this god-awful piece of legislation and have them contact their legislators. Tell them that we want quality teachers in Minnesota schools.

The youth will thank you for it.