Benjamin Wright: The Next Martin Luther King. Jr.?

Here's an interesting message about the one, the only Ben Wright, the brains of Metro Nashville Public Schools, savior of the Western World, fighter of Horace Mann, philosopher extraordinaire, and an equal to Plato, Socrates, and King James:

In case you haven't heard, Benjamin Wright has a self-aggrandizing website that, if you've got a little free time, will provide you with a barrell of laughs. However, in the end, it's more likely to make you cry when you consider he is MNPS's #2 [actually only second in pay--about 6th in succession to the chief] and makes $150,000 a year [actually $165,000--much more than everyone who precedes him in command of Metro Schools after the superintendent].

To whet your appetite, here are a few snippets from www.jamwright.com. Wright's words are in italics. The comments come from some smart aleck.

We need to equip them with the necessary accouterments to be leaders in this decaying society.

COMMENT: The word "accouterments" refers to "clothing". Is he saying that all you have to do to be a better leader is dress properly? And that sentence is such a downer. Why would anyone want to be a leader of a decadent society?

Over the past several decades there has been a phenomenal movements around educational reform.

COMMENT: I guess in this decadent society of ours it's okay to mix singulars, plurals, present tense and past tense. Perhaps we needs to use our computer's grammar's checker's thingamabobs.

In spite of excuses made for urban students inability to succeed particularly African American youth, they still excel in many areas, it is academic excellence that is considered the exception.

COMMENT: I don't even know where to begin on this one.

Those leaders who believe and understand all emphasize that academic excellence, social and psychological development can and is attained.

COMMENT: What?

... and then you need to do something about it before the question is asked by those of whom you and your decisions affect.

COMMENT: I don't really know the rule for using "whom" but I'm pretty sure this is not following that rule.

Know why kids are in school, what are the objectives that children seek to achieve from education?

COMMENT: Is this really a question? Is it even a sentence?

What really matters to the child is to have fun.

COMMENT: This is why students do not like single-sex classrooms.

... Horace Mann, who started most of this madness in these United States of America.

COMMENT: Yep, just blame it all on 'ole Horace, the FRIGGIN' FOUNDER OF PUBLIC EDUCATION, FOR GOD'S SAKE!!!!!!!

It was not until after 1965, that blacks earned the right to vote,

COMMENT: I don't want to quibble here, but wasn't that settled by the Civil War and the 15th Amendment, adopted in 1870? Then again, he only missed it by 95 years.

Let us take a look at what happened in this great divide called empty wilderness of leaders that are much needed in the field of education.

COMMENT: I think that what we really need are leaders that talk coherently.

Now every leader in history had a particular calling, the greatest leader in America that we know was Jesus Christ, there are other countries that knew Buddha, Mohammed, some just knew God, Allah, Yahweh; and then there were men, Attila the Hun, Hannibal, Mansa Mussa, King James, Lancelot, Russo, Socrates, Plato, Martin Luther, Gandhi, Malcolm X, Martin Luther King Jr., and Benjamin Wright, leaders whom we consider the great achievers.

COMMENTS: Where, exactly, in America did Jesus live? And isn't Lancelot a fictional character? Does he mean "Renee Russo", the actress, or "Rousseau", the philospher? Funny, but I never before considered Benjamin Wright as belonging to this group of people. Silly me.

I think it was John Fitzgerald Kennedy, who said, “Of those to whom much is given much is required and when in some future date the high court of history sits in judgment on each one of us recording whether an outreach brand of service we fulfilled our responsibility to the state, our success of failure in whateveroffice we may hold, will be measured by the interest of four questions, “Were we truly men of courage, Were we truly men of judgment, Were we truly men of integrity, Were we truly men of dedication?”

COMMENT: I'm not real sure that Kennedy said that because, if he had, no one would have voted for him. Besides, I count two opening quotation marks and only one closing one. Perhaps Kennedy stopped talking somewhere in the middle of all that rubbish and he just forgot to tell us where. In any event, I knew we were in trouble when he started the sentence with "I think".

I assure you it is very lonely when you are the sage, it is also very lonely when you are the guide on the side, and not the sage on the stage.

COMMENT: He's been hanging around Johnny Cochrane too much.

... after Title IX all men and boys became dogs, men just became bigger dogs.

COMMENT: I guess he's saying it's women's fault. I thought it was Horace Mann's fault.

I’ve talked about trustworthiness, integrity, honesty, truth and dedication, courage is so important, you can’t have courage if you’re out their chasing your secretary around the room, you won’t have any courage if you are trying to talk to one of your teachers on the side, you won’t have any courage if you’re out partying with the kids parents every night, or in some cases the kids, you have to have the courage to do what is necessary to assure equity for every child.

COMMENT: Darn it. I always liked chasing my secretary around the room. But if you go out partying with the kids every night just make sure you party with all of them, in order to be equitable.