Cnn.com, one of the most widely-read news sites in the world, features at the top of its home page a list of "Top Stories." There are usually about 13 stories there. As of 11:47 AM EDT this morning, there are two education-related stories among the top 13. They are:
"Teacher charged with raping student 28 times"
and
"Teacher, crushing bug with gun shell, blows up hand"
There are millions of teachers in the United States. People being people, on any given Wednesday a few of them are going to do something illegal or monumentally stupid. The same is undoubtedly true for lawyers, truck drivers, certified public accountants, and every other profession of considerable size. But their foibles and sins don't generate coverage like this, because those stories don't play into the simplistic "even in our public schools!!!" narrative at work here. Instead of substantive education journalism, we get stories making it seem like the nation's classrooms are chock-full of morons and sexual predators.
So, we at the Quick and the Ed are hereby establishing the "Cnn.com award for egregious sensationalism in education journalism." Readers who email examples will win lasting fame.
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