Strange Bedfellows? Lying Down with Dogs?

Anyway. As math wars continue to heat up in this district, I find myself keeping some strange company. Like talking to the sentimentally Trotskyite head of the teachers' union, who's quoting E.D. Hirsch at me approvingly. I start to respond, and he says, quickly, "Yes, yes, I know, he's elitist and all," but. The humanist dream was seen as liberating fifty years ago, not elitist and restrictive, I suppose. All those Books of Knowledge that our parents and grandparents grew up with (Deb, what was that set called? THe one your father had also?). And I take a look @ Amazon reviews for the superintendent and his missus's book (on constructivism) and come across this gem:

Do you teach in a classroom in which there are no behavior problems. Where students sit at there desks with arms folded and smiles on their faces, eager to jump at the challenge you are about to put before them? No? This book assumes you do. Not only is this book an excersize in Utopia, it is very liberal by design. Several times, known communists are quoted and their ideas taken as gospel. Do you want our children being taught by a teacher following a socialist agenda? Do you want to teach your classroom in this manner? Then do not follow this book. The book is peppered with a few good ideas, but I have a problem with the message delivered. Comments such as "truth is often a matter of interpetation", and "grades are used to communicate that some students are smarter than others" are liberal ideas communicated throughout this book. If you want to improve your teaching by using research based instructional strategies, there are many pieces available that address this without being so radical.

In short, ewww. As I once again discover things I've known since I was a pup: namely that it's hard to have a rational discussion about anything.