Mass. school superintendent fails must-pass English test

Associated Press ^ | 08-03-03

[Brian S]

This city's superintendent of schools, who recently put two dozen teachers on unpaid leave for failing a basic English proficiency test, has himself flunked a required literacy test three times.

Wilfredo T. Laboy called his failing scores "frustrating" and "emotional." He blamed his performance on a lack of preparation and concentration, as well as the fact that that Spanish is his first language.

[Centurion2000]

I could learn the 'rules', and grammar in Spanish easier than in English. Then I would apply those rules in English class. It was a big help.

Don't you mean help big ? ;)

[freebilly]

I'm not familiar with Ha Jin. I'll have to read him....

[Bonaparte]

Ha Jin

[freebilly]

Thank you!

[Fraulein]

"I'm trying to understand the congruence of what I do here every day and this stupid test"

I'm sure the students have asked themselves the same thing.

[Bonaparte]

Waiting is a sweet read. Recommended.

[McGavin999]

You would think the guy would have studied after he failed the first time. You know, crack the books, study, read, understand the subject matter. The fact that the guy failed 3 times should tell you all you need to know about him.

[B-Chan]

“What brought me down was the rules.....” Laboy said. Should “was” be “were”?

Yes. I was going to point that out but decided to read all replies first. That is very basic grammar not teacher kind of stuff.

Instead of fretting over verb tenses, I'd simply rewrite the sentence: instead of “What brought me down was the rules.....” I'd say “The rules brought me down”. I'm a big fan of simple and straightforward English.

[yonif]

pathetic.

[Mind-numbed Robot]

Thanks for the help.

[Redleg Duke]

"If you're not an English teacher, you don't look at the rules on a regular basis."

Awww, Bullshit! I am an engineer and with the associated reports and white papers I must write on a daily basis, I "look at the rules" daily.

This is just an example of "feel good" educrats who are too ignorant or stupid or lazy to get employment anywhere else. And the tragedy is that we need our best teaching our children, not those too damned dumb to get any other education.

End of Rant!

[Redleg Duke]

Don't worry, the NEA couldn't identify a "preposition" if it bit them in the ass!

[metesky]

It's worse than you think.

Unless something has changed that I am unaware of, Lawrence High School is not even an accredited school.

[Kenny Bunk]

I switched careers and became a teacher in an effort to make a difference.

I had thought this might make an excellent follow-on career for me, as I am of retirement age, but have many years of service left to give. I do enjoy going in to substitute in math and science for a few principals whom I know well, and in my youth I did teach in private school while awaiting military assignment. Uniformly, the PS teachers I meet, (most of whom are very good and dedicated people) do not have ANY subject matter mastery, or even command of what used to be known as facts, as they are discussed every day by contributors to this site. I meet HS foreign language teachers who would die of thirst before they could order a glass of water in any foreign land. I mean these nice young folks are ignorant of what you could learn in your barber shop from reading the Reader's Digest or National Geographic.

However, I simply cannot sit still for the idiotic "Education" courses. Speaking of examinations, I have offered to sit for the examination on the these spurious "subjects." The final exams at your local Teacher's College are about as difficult as the one Laboy flunked. Shockingly, they require as much study.

This is a national racket. The question is, how do we end it?

[oldironsides]

You are dealing with Massachusetts. This is not a normal situation. The large cities have seen a major increase in
immigration from several areas. They put some folks into
colleges that should not be there. They graduate people that should not be given a degree. The study done on teachers not passing the test showed they came from the same colleges. They know exactly who has the faulty programs and just what school is putting out the poor quality teachers.

[ladylib]

Is it any wonder that students don't respect teachers and school officials? Why should students respect a school administrator who is as dumb or dumber than they are?

I'm sure this incident will be noted by Lawrence, MA, students who have to take "high-stakes" proficiency exams.

Public education today is a racket (and a joke).

Someone please fire this moron.

[lodwick]

If it weren't so sick, this would be hilarious.

[shhrubbery!]

I can't find Laboy's bio either, but he does seem to be able to read a teleprompter fairly well.

[RipSawyer]

"And people wonder why I walk around shaking my head!"


You too? I keep wondering how it can be true that people like this man are drawing huge salaries to "educate" our young people and yet he himself could not pass the final exam that I took to graduate HIGH SCHOOL in one of the poorest counties in SC forty one years ago.

[RipSawyer]

(Can't prove a negative? You're not stupid. Prove it!)

Your tag line intrigues me, I have sometimes made the statement that it is impossible to prove a negative and I still believe that it is only possible to prove a positive which by inference proves the validity of the negative. I once told one of my brothers that I could not prove that I did not kill Nicole Simpson but if I could prove that I was on the East Coast during the time that would prove that I could not have killed her. That is still, in my mind, proving a positive. Am I missing something?