Ken the Blue Collar Muse details an interesting story about a former Tennessee high school football coach, years after pleading guilty to racketeering charges and having his teaching license revoked, then lying about his past to get a teaching job in Michigan, has had his license to teach reinstated by the Tennessee Board of Education.
Here’s how Ken brings the story home:
Lynn Lang should not be licensed to teach. Tennessee educators gave him a pass simply because a period of time had passed. Despite a felony conviction and deceiving Michigan’s Board, Tennessee says Lang is fit to teach in Tennessee. I’m still trying to find out if he is. Even if he’s not, the fact he could be is outrageous. He was banned from coaching for life. His ban from teaching should be the same. But as I said, education can be more about morality than math and science and educators often come down on the wrong side of the matter. What are we teaching our kids these days?
Lynn Lang: a worthy nominee for this contest? But the problem, of course, is much deeper than the Lynn Langs who find refuge in our school system and have a daily impact on the lives of many impressionable youths.
Even though I have grown a bit cynical from years of studying the problems in our nation’s K-12 government school system, I share Ken’s frustration and outrage. The top education officials in the Volunteer State look like they are volunteering themselves to be nominated for some version of the Moral Deficit in Government Education Award. Sigh.
I don’t know how many times I’ve written it: Empower parents with more choice in education and access to the information to make the best choice. It won’t solve every problem, but it will be much harder to let events like this transpire without any real consequences.
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.