Two Tidbits from the News

I know it's been a while since I posted, mostly because of Spring Break and a variety of other scheduling conflicts. But two tidbits from the news really caught my eye and I think that they are worth mentioning here.

Today's Indianapolis Star reports that Governor Daniels has used his first veto of this session, something he has done only seven times in office. I must say, he saved it for a good one. The bill: HEA 1210. The premise of the bill: allow a loophole for individuals who do not pass the teacher's licensing exam to still become teachers in Indiana. Easily one of the dumbest bills passed by the General Assembly this session.

Now, as anyone who has been reading this blog for a long time can tell you, I am no fan of public education. But if you're going to have public education, then it would best for your teachers to have some sort of standard. This bill would have allowed persons who fail the test to become teachers by showing that they had a good GPA in their education coursework and have good references from those under whom they student taught. If that's not lowering the standards, I don't know what is.

The bill was authored by Rep. Vernon Smith (D-Gary), who complained after the veto that the governor hadn't met with him to discuss the bill. I don't blame the governor. He has better things to do than argue about pointless bills. I can understand why Rep. Smith wants the bill: Gary schools are a dismal failure, and they can't get teachers to teach there. He probably thinks that lowering the standards of licensing will mean more teachers in Gary. Well, Mr. Smith, even if your plan worked, it wouldn't improve the education quality in Gary. You need qualified, talented, devoted teachers to come to Gary, not the people who couldn't pass the test. A better plan would be to pay teachers better.

In other news, a student at UVa-Wisa was expelled because of prose he composed in a creative writing class. His story involved a student who dreams of killing his professor and commits suicide. Okay, maybe I could see some threat here, but you need to consider the context. Nevermind that this is a creative writing class, and creativity doesn't always fit nicely into a pre-approved box. The student is an Iraqi war veteran with no history of mental illness and medals for good conduct. In fact, the school couldn't put together a case, except for the fact that the student had a few guns in his car. Okay, again, maybe I could see some threat here, but consider that he had a right to carry them, as he had permits for each of them. And he's a war veteran.

To make matters worse, the school involuntarily committed him for psychiatric testing, something that automatically revokes his ability to hold the gun permits. Well, that's one way to get around the law.

Eugene Volokh points out that "expulsion would still strike [him] an excessive remedy; nor would protecting the university from the possibility that he would turn into a Virginia-Tech-style mass killer justify this: If he really does plan to commit mass murder, he could do that as an expelled student pretty much as easily as an enrolled student (since the school doubtless doesn't have guards at each possible entrance to keep him off campus)."

I would love to use a case like this to get the issue of gun bans in schools brought before the Supreme Court. To me, it is ridiculous that a Constitutional right stops being a right when you cross an invisible barrier onto a campus. Only problem is that this case is not the one I'd bring up. Justice Scalia's son was the professor of that creative writing class. Scalia would have to take a breather on this case, which would leave us 4-4, which is unacceptable. On the plus side, such a lawsuit would encourage the legislators in Indianapolis to pass a bill allowing certain persons to carry firearms on campus.