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Thursday, May 23, 2019

The "X"odus Files: Shortage Denial Syndrome. | BustED Pencils

The "X"odus Files: Shortage Denial Syndrome. | BustED Pencils

The “X”odus Files: Shortage Denial Syndrome.


A few weeks ago Peter Greene posted a blog about the fact that there is NO TEACHER SHORTAGE. He even mentioned me as one of the shortage deniers. I sent his post to a host of people—teachers, politicians, government agencies, and anybody else that needed a reminder. I then went on with my day delusionally convinced that I had done my part and that the reality of the teacher “X”odus would supplant the teacher shortage narrative. If only!
Instead of a mass awakening and a torrent of thank you emails I received one email from a friend in a government agency suggesting that I was possibly causing harm by insisting that the teacher shortage narrative was bunk.
According to my friend, I was “conflating the reason for the shortage with whether or not there is a shortage.” And that a state legislator was now using my teacher shortage denial syndrome as a way to disparage a proposed student loan forgiveness program for future teachers—since there was no teacher shortage.
I would love to believe that any legislator would actually cite me as a teacher shortage expert and that my denial syndrome was being used to thwart a great idea. Because if this was the case then it was a perfect opportunity to confirm the false shortage narrative and drive home the “X”odus facts such as the ones laid out in Brevard, Florida where 625 CONTINUE READING: The "X"odus Files: Shortage Denial Syndrome. | BustED Pencils