Fatuous Pablum
David Kirp says that teaching isn’t a business—and that makes a lot of people really mad…
EduShyster: Let me try to break this to you gently. Your recent New York Times piece,Teaching Is Not a Business, didn’t win you a lot of friends on Twitter. In fact, one of your detractors referred to your entire oeuvre as*fatuous pablum.*David Kirp: Wow—I seem to have provoked, not just outrage, but a mixed metaphor. Pablum, which is actually spelled pabulum, is something you eat.
EduShyster: Perhaps the point was that if one consumes too much pablum, one grows fatuous. I’m curious though, did you hear from any of your critics directly?
Kirp: None of them wrote to me. I have to say, by the way, that trust and community have been themes of my writing for many, many years and this is the only time I’ve provoked such intemperate responses. The emails I received from readers and the letters to the Times were overwhelming positive. The best letter I got asked a question that I think bears repeating: when you think about what most influenced you in your life or your choice of careers, how many of you point to the text book you read or the computer program you worked on? I think that’s a gorgeous way of putting it.
EduShyster: I saw a couple of specific criticisms that popped up again and again. One was that you refuse to acknowledge that high-performing charters are the answer; another is that you refuse to acknowledge that choice is the answer. Do you have an answer for Fatuous Pablum | EduShyster: