[lbo-talk] More "school reform" nonsense

[Miles Jackson]

Carrol Cox wrote:
> Damn it. Nothing is more destructive of anything remotely approaching
> class solidarity than this fucking stupid idea that somehow the
> incompetent should be "weeded out." People are not weeds to begin with.
> Accept the fact that any work force is going to be varied, and rather
> than this stupid and impossble and divisive obsession with competence
> give a little bit of thought to performing the best possible with a
> given work force.

I am sympathetic to this position in the abstract; however, when we're 
trying to get things done in an educational organization, turning a 
blind eye to people who don't do their work causes all kinds of problems 
for students, faculty, and staff.  One example: a faculty member at a 
vaguely unidentified college I've worked at refused to grade final 
papers for a number of terms, and the department chair and another 
faculty member did the grading so that the students would get their 
grades on time for the hard work they did.  What are we supposed to do 
about that?  Is it wrong for me to argue that this faculty member should 
not be allowed to impose additional workload on colleagues? 

Miles