Jenny D. attacks Huffie poster Sherry Lansing. But is the Huffie’s idea so bad? With proper screening (pun intended!) and training it would be sort of Elderhostel meets Teach For America…and, seriously, a good national service opportunity to boot!
Update: Rodel’s Carol Peck writes about one retiree in action!
Update II: A reader writes:
Sherry Lansing has been on Teach For America’s national board for a long time and she actually has high school teaching experience in Los Angeles . While that doesn’t make her immune to criticism, it is completely unfair to say that she shouldn’t be taken seriously because she is simply a “Hollywood celebrity.” The greater irony is that there was a time when she was fighting an uphill battle to be taken seriously as a woman executive in Hollywood because she was merely a “former teacher.” She actually has talked for years about the need to open more paths for mid-careers and retirees to enter teaching, but now she has time to think more about it and figure outways to engage. I doubt seriously that she has an ideological bent ontraining and certification – just more of an honest assessment that there are people who could be great teachers but there are too many barriers and not enough opportunities. Anyway, she’s not a lightweight- she actually has been thinking about education issues for years.