Local outlet NewsChannel 5 has obtained pretty damning hidden camera video from a private reception with Tennessee’s Republican Gov. Bill Lee. Per this video, Dr. Larry Arnn, who serves as president of the super conservative Hillsdale College in TK, Michigan, and who hosted the reception, mocked public school teachers.
How so? He repeatedly doubted their intelligence by suggesting they’re trained in the “dumbest” parts of the “dumbest” colleges in the country. He questioned how committed they actually are to teaching their students. Probably unsurprisingly at this point, he also ridiculed efforts to make higher education more inclusive and diverse.
Per the outlet, the video is close to two hours. Lee praises Arnn. He doesn’t offer up a drop of protection for the public school teachers in his state. And this is about the place where it’s good to know Lee has offered Arnn the change to set up at least 50 charter schools in the state—and he originally hoped for Arnn to establish 100.
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"In colleges, what you hire now is administrators,” Arnn said in part, describing “diversity officers” who have degrees in education. “It's easy,” he added. “You don't have to know anything." He went on to say “education destroys generations of people” and that it’s “devastating” like a “plague.” Arnn went on to say that you don’t have to be an “expert” to teach a child and that “basically anybody” can do it.
"If you work in a college, you'll know this,” Arnn told those in attendance. “Unless you work in the ed department. Ours is different. But they are the dumbest part of every college.”
Mocking and ridiculing public school teachers is incredibly bleak. And that’s without us remembering that educators are continuing to teach amid the ongoing global COVID-19 pandemic. Teachers from all over the country—very much including Tennessee—are overworked, underpaid, and are trying to juggle anti-mask parents, book bans, and critical race theory (CRT) hysteria all while trying to do the jobs they worked hard to get. (It should go without saying that education degrees are not a joke.)
Arnn can (obviously) have his personal views. But it’s abhorrent that Lee couldn’t find it within himself to defend his teachers (or their intelligence) against the absolute onslaught of ridicule Arnn was pushing. Arnn cozying up to establish dozens of public schools in the state only adds to the nightmare.
You can watch clips from the local coverage here, including some of the hidden camera footage.