Thursday, April 6th, 2006...7:53 am
Once We Get this “English Language Learner” Thing Cleared Up, Maybe We Should Send the Superintendent’s Webmaster for a Refresher
This is from the front page of the Superintendent of Public Instruction’s website. You know, the office that’s run by Tom Horne, one of those conservatives that goes on and on about declining standards:
The paradigm shift, since I took office is that the Department of Education will be primarily a service organization, helping school districts and charter schools achieve more academic success. The Department is also an organization that assures compliance, and we will have to be conscientious about that, but the compliance function will be secondary. The primary function is now: service.
Okay, what the heck is with that comma after “paradigm shift?” The second sentence looks to be a run-on and doesn’t seem to belong there. That third sentence is improperly punctuated. The whole paragraph smacks of meaningless “corporatespeak.” It is the sort of thing a college student would write when he or she hopes to snow their instructor by how many big words and long sentences they can throw around.
Most of the English teachers in this state would hand this back to Mr. Horne with a big red “rewrite” written across the top.
NB - Yes, I make grammar and puncutation errors too. But I’m not in charge of the schools, am I?
4 Comments
April 6th, 2006 at 8:16 am
Wow, talk about setting the bar for standards.
April 6th, 2006 at 9:31 am
This could not possibly have been written by Horne. He has his J.D. with honors from Harvard Law and he was magna cum laude as an undergraduate!
Horne is indeed a Republican but please do not misuse the term conservative by associating it with Tom.
April 6th, 2006 at 9:50 am
Absolutely right, phx kid. There is no way that Horne would have written that himself.
These sorts of things are written by low level hacks who are given cushy government positions as a favor to a political benefactor.
So I’m thinking it’s probably the work of a little Salmon or Weiers or a Bennett that doesn’t have any upcoming court dates.
April 6th, 2006 at 10:15 am
Or whose court date was put on hold by a cushy settlement.
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