The Tsunami of Distrust for Government Spills over to Educators
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New York City Mayor Bloomberg’s appointment of Cathie Black encountered fierce blowback from parent groups, unions, and others who were outraged by her lack of public school experience. The New York State Commissioner of Education said that he would approve the Mayoral request to waive state requirements if theMayor appointed an educator as second in command. He did.
The mayor’s choice of a non-educator for the largest school district in the nation got me thinking about the massive distrust of public school educators in general and teachers in particular. They have taken hit after hit, decade after decade, from policy elites and media for horribly mismanaged urban districts and dragging down the U.S. economy.
Then I recalled the growth of distrust for all government that coincided with this loss of trust. Think of the Vietnam War, Watergate, President Nixon’s resignation, and the habit of presidential candidates from Jimmy Carter