The Last Ditch by Tom Paine

2 responses to “An old profession vs a former profession”

1. 

   Diogenes

   November 9, 2010

   I love the deliberate allusion to this:
   Sister Brigid was teaching her young students one day and she asked each of them what they would like to be when they grew up. She came to a little girl who responded, “When I grow up I want to be a prostitute.”
   Shocked, good Sister Brigid fainted on the spot. Her students rushed to revive her. When she came around, Sister asked the little girl, “What did you say you wanted to be when you grew up?” The little girl replied, “A prostitute.”
   “Oh thank goodness,” the relieved nun replied “I thought you said a Protestant.”

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2. 

   Tom Paine

   November 10, 2010

   There is no higher calling than teaching. How highly a society values teachers is a good indicator of its health and future prospects. Armstrong & Miller’s parodies of the recruitment ads for teachers tell you (most amusingly, but also very sadly) just how healthy our society is not.
   The real question is; how to rebuild the reputation of teachers? I am not sure firing them for not being leftist enough, while forgiving them for being prostitutes much helps. Nor does the fact that the bureaucracy of the ex-profession has only ever detected unacceptable incompetence in one of them!
   It’s a serious issue and is not being addressed. I am horrified, for example, at the treatment of Katharine Birbalsingh. I can’t see how it’s compatible with a free society for a teacher to be fired for expressing political views contrary to those of her management team. I know what would happen if I fired any of my leftist employees. Why isn’t it happening here?
   The Labour Party and its fellow travellers in academia made this mess, but I will never forget that it was a government with alleged Conservatives in it that failed to defend Ms Birbalsingh’s freedom of speech. “Failed to defend?” – I make myself laugh. The Conservative Party used her for its own political ends and then cast her aside.

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