His comments about education schools were a clear-eyed revelation of the cronyism and professional incest that has emerged between university graduate programs and university bureaucracies.
When Hillsdale College President Larry Arnn commented on university teacher education programs in late June, he not only struck a nerve with teacher advocacy groups but he also struck at the root of the decay that has taken hold in our public schools.
Arnn made his comments at a private event while on stage with Tennessee Governor Bill Lee. Afterwards, a secretly recorded video of the event was made public by a Nashville television station and then widely reported.
“The teachers are trained in the dumbest parts of the dumbest colleges in the country,” Arnn said.
He was also unsparing in his assessment of the presence on campuses of the “diversity” movement: “In colleges, what you hire now is administrators . . . Now, because they are appointing all these diversity officers, what are their degrees in? Education. It’s easy. You don’t have to know anything.”
The Hillsdale president was castigated by the usual suspects—various teacher groups in Tennessee, teacher college apparatchiks, and a spokesman for the state association of schools. Naturally, Lee was attacked for his silence as Arnn spoke.
Critics sniffed in indignation. They feigned outrage that anyone would dare to tell the truth about the nation’s schools of education.
Arnn is correct. The situation is arguably worse in education schools and education departments than what he portrayed. A half-century of studies have shown this to be the case.