A Dunce Hat for Bill Cobey

Bill Cobey, chairman of the State Board of Education, former chair of the NC Republican Party, and a former one-term member of the U.S. House of Representatives, has "a weak explanation" for why few college kids in North Carolina are now pursuing a career in public school teaching. Cobey said the decline in interest reflected a society that emphasizes “making a lot of money as opposed to making a difference” (N&O).

Do we call that "psychological projection," a.k.a. "blame-shifting"? Certainly, Mr. Cobey's Republican Party is money-obsessed, but insulting an entire generation of bright, young college students, many of whom have been inspired by excellent teachers to the point they thought seriously of pursuing a career in teaching, but most of whom also need to eat regular meals and pay the rent and buy gas for the car -- it's out of line, Mr. Cobey.

The profession of public school teaching in North Carolina has declined under the ministrations of Mr. Cobey's Republican Party to the point where one's rationality might be questioned if he or she announced to the family, "I think I'll go into teaching in North Carolina, because the General Assembly and the Governor have succinctly signaled their lack of interest and, in fact, their active hostility toward public schools and public school teaching, and I'm promised a long career of poor pay and no advancement and dipping into my own pocketbook to buy my own supplies." 

But for Mr. Cobey, those kids just want to make "a lot of money as opposed to making a difference," which makes him a colossal ass as well as a clueless chair of the State Board of Education. Mr. Cobey and his pals in the General Assembly are the ones making the difference, the difference between a well educated and dynamic citizenry in North Carolina and a declining and doomed educational system.