Mike Klonsky's SmallTalk Blog: 'Wouldn’t it be nice if educational policy were driven by reality instead of snark hunts and iggernance...?/

Mike Klonsky's SmallTalk Blog: 'Wouldn’t it be nice if educational policy were driven by reality instead of snark hunts and iggernance...?/:

'Wouldn’t it be nice if educational policy were driven by reality instead of snark hunts and iggernance...?/

by Mike Klonsky

I'm re-posting this piece from Maureen Downey's Get Schooled blog. -- M.K.

The Snark syndrome in educational policymaking 

  By Peter Smagorinsky

    In 1993, Eileen Byrne published "Women and Science: The Snark Syndrome."

    Snarks have been around for some time, first appearing in 1874 in Lewis Carroll's "The Hunting of the Snark." Well, actually they are imaginary, as I learned when sent on a “snark hunt” as a tenderfoot Boy Scout on my first camping trip long ago, much to the delight of the older boys in my troop.

     Byrne in particular draws on the following stanzas to coin the “snark syndrome” or “snark effect”:
   
    'Just the place for a Snark!' the Bellman cried,
    As he landed his crew with care;
    Supporting each man on the top of the tide
    By a finger entwined in his hair.
   
    'Just the place for a Snark! I have said it twice:
    That alone should encourage the crew.
    Just the place for a Snark! I have said thrice:
    What I tell you three times is true.'

    Byrne reads these stanzas as a commentary on the effects of repeating something until it becomes widely