Quickies: The “Educators”

     Mrs. Kimiko Komatsu, an acquaintance from USA.Life, has posted an article every mother of school-age children should read. It concerns being haled to a conference with her sons’ “educators”…because they were reading too well:

     I took my seat across from two teachers who, I noticed, were viewing me with a certain disdain. It was as if I smelled badly or was a known, convicted child molester. I could tell they didn’t approve of me, but I didn’t yet know why.

     The meeting commenced, without so much as an introduction, when one of the two women, who I suspected were the boys’ teachers said, “Mrs. Komatsu, while testing your sons we’ve discovered some highly disturbing information.” They now had my complete attention….

     “Mrs. Komatsu, we didn’t know there was a problem until we conducted a test to determine all the children’s levels of reading ability. We’ve never seen this happen before. The test evaluates performance up to the ninth-grade level and both your boys passed all elements of the test. Because of that we can’t determine how well they can read.”

     Were these “educators” implying that Sean and Mike Komatsu had cheated on the test? Apparently not:

     “Mrs. Komatsu, we need to know why your boys read as well as they do.”

     The answer was simple:

     “I invested the time in teaching them to read the way I was taught to read. I purchased a couple Phonics books, spent some time teaching them and then I made sure they always had something they wanted to read.”

     This did not please the “educators:”

     “Mrs. Komatsu, your degree is in…?”

     “I don’t have a degree. I graduated High School, that’s all.” I answered.

     “…and yet, somehow, you felt qualified to do a job best left to trained professionals with years of experience?” said teacher number one…. “Please, tell us what made you decide to teach your boys to read rather than allowing us to do it the proper way.”

     I exhort you, Gentle Reader, to read the whole thing. It casts a very harsh light on the true agenda of the “educators” who control the government-run schools. It clearly has nothing to do with teaching children to read…or anything else.

     I, who have extensive experience with the government-run schools, found the exchanges Mrs. Komatsu related in her article entirely believable. Others will undoubtedly protest that they’re “atypical” and that our “educators” are sincerely devoted to our children’s welfare. Draw your own conclusions.