Teacher: RI biz community is ‘below proficient’

This was one of the more interesting statements made at the teacher rally last night – and not because it shows why Deborah Gist isn’t an effective education leader. Rather, because it shows the inherent hypocrisy in our political debate and how varying interests can employ widely divergent logic depending on the situation and where they want the blame to fall.

Is a business to blame if it can’t attract customers, or is it part of a larger societal problem? Is a teacher to blame if they can’t reach their students, or is it part of a larger societal problem?

Imagine if your small business could only attract customers from one community: would you want it to be from Barrington or Central Falls? If it was Central Falls, would you want to be held accountable for the same profit margins as the Barrington business?