One Name...

…equals all Five Basic Laws of Human Stupidity.

Walter Cronkite.

From an interview on Larry King Live.

KING: You mentioned during the break that you wanted to say something about teachers' pay...

CRONKITE: ...I am so appalled at the amount we pay our teachers. Now here are the people that we turn our children over to at the age of five or so to -- to -- they're the most important people in their lives, probably more so than their parents in many cases unfortunately.

But we pay them so little that in nearly every school district of the country the janitors in the buildings in which they work make more than they do as teachers for heaven's sakes. We should be ashamed of ourselves.

If we expect this country to work, it depends on an informed, an intelligent electorate… We're an ignorant nation right now. We're not really capable I do not think the majority of our people of making the decisions that have to be made at election time and particularly in the selection of their legislatures and their Congress and the presidency of course. I don't think we're bright enough to do the job that would preserve our democracy, our republic. I think we're in serious danger.

There ya' have it. The man who single-handedly engineered our defeat in Vietnam--and who, of course, fancies himself monumentally intelligent--thinks teachers aren't paid enough. And 'cause of that, there are a bunch of stupid voters out there who insist on electin' (gasp) Republicans!

Don't think ole' Walter will be too thrilled with this study.

"Principals across the country say teachers who come from a military background often outperform those who enter teaching straight from college, according to a study by an Old Dominion University professor…

"The study surveyed about 875 principals about graduates of the federal Troops to Teachers program, which provides grants to military personnel who return to college to go into teaching. The study asked principals to compare Troops to Teachers graduates with other teachers with the same level of teaching experience.

"Overwhelmingly, the principals favored the teachers who came from the service."

posted by Harrison at 7:41 PM