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Fucking outragous
Posted: 2004-02-02 01:59am
by Alex Moon
From
this website.
Could anyone imagine the day when an aspiring educator would be told that he is, in essence, overqualified?
Perhaps my story is merely an exception to the rule. In either circumstance, the outcome is appalling.
I am a 22-year-old African-American male and recent graduate of a respectable liberal arts college in Kentucky. I acquired a 3.75 grade-point average with a double major in Social Studies Secondary Education and sociology.
I was a Rhodes Scholar nominee, inducted into the Mensa society in May 2001, named to the National Dean's List for three consecutive years, successfully competed in intercollegiate forensics and served as student body president.
...
Recently, I interviewed with a school in one of the metro Atlanta counties, only to receive an e-mail from the principal stating, "Though your qualifications are quite impressive, I regret to inform you that we have selected another candidate. It was felt that your demeanor and therefore presence in the classroom would serve as an unrealistic expectation as to what high school students could strive to achieve or become. However, it is highly recommended that you seek employment at the collegiate level; there your intellectual comportment would be greatly appreciated. Good luck."
After reading the e-mail several times over, I felt as if I had been slapped in the face. It is truly a sad day in the world of education when a 22-year-old aspiring educator is informed that he is too intellectual to teach high school.
I am neither looking for a handout nor a free ride. I would simply like some insight as to some possible answers to a seemingly unsolvable conundrum.
Dumbass principal
God knows that the last thing teenagers need to see, especially minority teens, is a well off, smart successful young black man. It might give them "unrealistic expectations"
Posted: 2004-02-02 02:03am
by Kuja
God forbid our high school teachers are TOO SMART!
Anyone ever read the book 'To Sir, With Love'? This sounds almost exactly like something that happened to the author.
Re: Fucking outragous
Posted: 2004-02-02 02:05am
by Kamakazie Sith
Alex Moon wrote:From
this website.
Could anyone imagine the day when an aspiring educator would be told that he is, in essence, overqualified?
Perhaps my story is merely an exception to the rule. In either circumstance, the outcome is appalling.
I am a 22-year-old African-American male and recent graduate of a respectable liberal arts college in Kentucky. I acquired a 3.75 grade-point average with a double major in Social Studies Secondary Education and sociology.
I was a Rhodes Scholar nominee, inducted into the Mensa society in May 2001, named to the National Dean's List for three consecutive years, successfully competed in intercollegiate forensics and served as student body president.
...
Recently, I interviewed with a school in one of the metro Atlanta counties, only to receive an e-mail from the principal stating, "Though your qualifications are quite impressive, I regret to inform you that we have selected another candidate. It was felt that your demeanor and therefore presence in the classroom would serve as an unrealistic expectation as to what high school students could strive to achieve or become. However, it is highly recommended that you seek employment at the collegiate level; there your intellectual comportment would be greatly appreciated. Good luck."
After reading the e-mail several times over, I felt as if I had been slapped in the face. It is truly a sad day in the world of education when a 22-year-old aspiring educator is informed that he is too intellectual to teach high school.
I am neither looking for a handout nor a free ride. I would simply like some insight as to some possible answers to a seemingly unsolvable conundrum.
Dumbass principal
God knows that the last thing teenagers need to see, especially minority teens, is a well off, smart successful young black man. It might give them "unrealistic expectations"
Don't jump to conclusions. That may be the reason why they didn't hire him but there also might be a completely different reason. Everyone is always just ready to jump to racism as the reason for many injustices
Posted: 2004-02-02 02:05am
by Stofsk
Fucking hell. I never could understand how someone being "overqualified" wouldn't get the job. Maybe they were afraid he would ask for too much money or some shit? I don't know. This just stinks of BS. "Unrealistic expectation as to what High School students could strive to achieve or become?" Great, so now the students themselves are to blame. They are, of course, lazy slackers. No-hopers, all of them. Why go to the trouble of teaching them in any case? Oh, wait, that's right - dumbarse principal isn't teaching them. What a surprise.
Posted: 2004-02-02 02:07am
by Zaia
Around here, you can't get a college gig until you put in your time at the elementary, middle or high school level. And there are some teachers with doctorates that teach in the public high schools, so
to Atlanta!
Posted: 2004-02-02 02:31am
by Kamakazie Sith
Stofsk wrote:Fucking hell. I never could understand how someone being "overqualified" wouldn't get the job. Maybe they were afraid he would ask for too much money or some shit? I don't know. This just stinks of BS. "Unrealistic expectation as to what High School students could strive to achieve or become?" Great, so now the students themselves are to blame. They are, of course, lazy slackers. No-hopers, all of them. Why go to the trouble of teaching them in any case? Oh, wait, that's right - dumbarse principal isn't teaching them. What a surprise.
Yeah, that's one of my many pet peeves in the world that I've learned to just accept for the time being....
Posted: 2004-02-02 11:00am
by TrailerParkJawa
In an economy where zero experience means almost zero chance of getting a a job, this does not surprise me. Assuming its true at all. I don't know how it works in the education field, but I've never been informed via email of why I was not selected for a job.
Posted: 2004-02-02 12:04pm
by Darth Wong
We're only hearing one side of the story here, and even that side is based entirely on a rejection letter. Since when do rejection letters tell the truth? He said he interviewed for the job; what if his demeanour is arrogant and condescending? What if he made it obvious to the principal that he regards himself to be intellectually superior? He does, after all, spend 10 paragraphs of his article bragging about himself and only 2 paragraphs describing the incident in question. There are lots of reasons why somebody might not hire a job applicant.
Having said that, there is a reason why companies are often reluctant to hire overqualified applicants, and that is the expectation (usually borne out by experience) that the applicant will expect to climb the rank and pay scales faster than everyone else.
Posted: 2004-02-02 12:16pm
by Admiral Valdemar
I think this could be more to do with attitude and not academia. I've known one or two in the past who are far smarter than me and have a real attitude problem, the holier-than-thou flavour of arrogant intellectuals is nasty.
Though in business, as said, many try to get to the top but some get better chances than others, so had this been a company they could be forgiven for certain cases.
Posted: 2004-02-02 02:56pm
by Darth Servo
Lets see, they did advise the man to seek a position at the collegiate level.
Posted: 2004-02-02 03:30pm
by Trytostaydead
It's true, the rejection letter did state that his demeanor was a factor. And rejection letters do not always like to say, "you arrogant little puss-bag.."
Posted: 2004-02-02 04:20pm
by SAMAS
The question is why would one's arrogance provide "an unrealistic expectation as to what high school students could strive to achieve or become."
Posted: 2004-02-02 04:59pm
by Trytostaydead
SAMAS wrote:The question is why would one's arrogance provide "an unrealistic expectation as to what high school students could strive to achieve or become."
..could just be a BS answer.
IF the principal did not hire him because of his high education, that can be considered probably discrimination. I know of a high school teacher, he got his law degree from Harvard but retired early because he was sick of it and went to teach at his daughter's HS. Other teachers in my schools had Master and PhDs, worked for large biotech corporations (which gave us GREAT sponsorships for our science classes), and gave up professional jobs to teach.
In all, I think it is a BS answer to cover for some deficit the interviewer might have felt.