Thanks to Netflix CEO and education reformer Reed Hastings, I've got a number of complete seasons of Beavis and Butthead (along with many other shows and movies) at my fingertips, on demand, in good TV quality, all for less than $9 a month. Streaming Netflix is really a marvelous invention.
Anyway, I was cracking up to the ?Manners Suck? episode at home last night when I was reintroduced to David Van Driessen. He's the long-haired, peace-loving teacher at Highland Park High School who just can't get Beavis and Butthead to act nice, no matter how many campfire songs he sings and how often he encourages them to be inspired by nature. As his Wikipedia entry explains, ?He often plays songs on his acoustic guitar, which typically end in him being severely hurt, and in some cases almost killed.?
Van Driessen is a great caricature of the modern-day ?progressive educator.? When conservatives complain about teachers who are ?all about the kids? but don't know how to control a classroom, who love being nice and believe that any answer can be a right answer, it's the Driessens of the world they have in mind.
Rick Hess has ridiculed Van Driessen's progressive educator milieu to great comedic effect. But here's my question: does anybody out there, especially those current teachers and ed-school professors in the audience, think that he's actually an excellent and wise teacher?
Take a look at this clip (warning: some PG-13 language) and decide for yourself.
?Mickey Muldoon