Hillsdale College Larry Arnn is mad that people in Tennessee are telling the truth about his intentions. He’s even more mad that he was caught on tape making disparaging remarks about teachers and colleges of education. He’s not sorry about what he said. He’s made that clear. He IS sorry that when he told the truth, it disrupted his plans to shift public money to his private school pushing a Christian Nationalist agenda by way of Hillsdale-affiliated charter schools.
Now, Hillsdale is texting Tennesseans with a link to a page that tells the “truth” about Hillsdale.
Phil Williams of NewsChannel5 has more:
After the huge backlash against @Hillsdale president Larry Arnn saying public school teachers come from "the dumbest parts of the dumbest colleges," @GovBillLee's friends are now texting parents with a PR message that Arnn was "telling the truth." https://t.co/KBJEXBwWr5
Here’s the deal: Hillsdale-affiliated charters were rejected by three Tennessee school boards. All three have since appealed to the State Charter Commission. If those appeals are successful, Hillsdale-affiliated charters will open in Tennessee in 2023. They’ll get public money to advance their extreme agenda.
Hillsdale College President Larry Arnn came under fire recently for comments he made at an event with Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee. Arnn said, among other things, that “teachers come from the dumbest parts of the dumbest colleges.”
Lee not only silently listened on while Arnn attacked teachers, but he also later doubled down, indicating his support for the general premise of Arnn’s statements.
Today, Arnn published an OpEd in which he apologized “if” he had caused trouble for Lee. He then noted that he meant what he said about teachers and the colleges that train them.
In reference to his comments about the “dumbest parts of the dumbest colleges,” Arnn said:
I have said this many times, in public and in private, and will likely say it again. This time it was important because Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee was present. Many were outraged. I was not speaking for the governor, and I would rather do anything than embarrass him. If I have done that, I apologize to him.
Note he’s apologizing to Lee here, not to teachers in Tennessee.
It’s no wonder he wants to keep Lee happy. The aftermath of Arnn’s remarks, caught on video, has caused some in Lee’s own Republican party to at least say words about cancelling any relationship with Hillsdale. Larry definitely wants to keep the money flowing to his small, fundamentalist Christian school.
Arnn proceeds to disparage the teaching of pedagogical concepts such as diversity, equity, and inclusion – he mentions them as if they are a waste of time, rather than relevant concepts important to the day-to-day work of educators.
Many undergraduate education programs emphasize areas unrelated to the content covered in K-12 classrooms (such as administrative practices, classroom technology, counseling and diversity, equity and inclusion). As well-intentioned as they may be, these programs often steer educators away from the subject matter and toward a political agenda.
Here’s a bit more about the curriculum Arnn’s school promotes at its charters and also offers to schools around the country:
The curriculum calls for students to be “taught that ‘the civil rights movement was almost immediately turned into programs that ran counter to the lofty ideals of the Founders,’ ” News Channel Five notes. Hillsdale’s curriculum suggests that “Modern social-justice movements…are not based on the Founders’ views of equality, but on what it calls ‘identity politics’ that make it ‘less likely that racial reconciliation and healing can be attained.’”
Arnn is no fan of education around diversity, as NewsChannel5 notes:
Dr. Larry Arnn, president of Michigan’s ultra-conservative Hillsdale College, also takes aim at diversity efforts in higher education, claiming people in those positions have education degrees because they are “easy” and “you don’t have to know anything.”
In other words, Larry Arnn is sorry he got caught. Sorry that the backlash MAY cause a delay in the expansion of his empire of evangelical exceptionalism, may slow the flow of public dollars into his private institution.
That’s what the Tennessee Organization of School Superintendents (TOSS) says Hillsdale College’s Larry Arnn deserves in response to his disparaging remarks about teachers, made as Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee looked on in silence.
Lee has since defended both his own inaction and Arnn’s ridiculous remarks. In short, Bill Lee has doubled down on who he is.
Here’s the full statement from the organization representing the state’s Superintendents:
The Tennessee Organization of School Superintendents Board of Directors met on July 7, 2022 and voted unanimously to provide this public statement refuting the disparaging statements about public educators made by the President of Hillsdale College, Larry Arnn in Franklin, Tennessee released late last week. Tennessee Superintendents/Directors recognize the profound value of Tennessee teachers and celebrate their indispensable role in creating a brighter future for Tennesseans.
The following statements made by Mr. Arnn demonstrate the disdain he obviously holds for Tennessee educators.
“The teachers are trained in the dumbest parts of the dumbest colleges in the country.”
“They are taught that they are going to go and do something to these kids.”
“Do they ever talk about anything except what they are going to do to these kids?”
“You will see how education destroys generations of people. It’s devastating. It’s like the plague.”
“Here’s a key thing that we’re going to try to do. We are going to try to demonstrate that you don’t have to be an expert to educate a child because basically anybody can do it.”
In a speech at the Sorbonne in Paris on April 23, 1910, Theodore Roosevelt said the following:
“It is not the critic who counts: not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles or where the doer of deeds could have done better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood, who strives valiantly, who errs and comes up short again and again, because there is no effort without error or shortcoming, but who knows the great enthusiasms, the great devotions, who spends himself in a worthy cause; who, at the best, knows, in the end, the triumph of high achievement, and who, at the worst, if he fails, at least he fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who knew neither victory nor defeat.”
Tennessee teachers are “in the arena” every day, and the Tennessee Organization of School Superintendents has supported and will continue to support public educators.
Tennessee public school students, past and present, practice the benefits they receive from teachers in public classrooms. They do research in world-class scientific institutions. They build automobiles. They grow the food that feeds the nation and, indeed, the world. They dispense justice and defend the defenseless. They heal the sick. They fuel commerce through entrepreneurship. They minister to congregations. And, yes, teachers prepare children in classrooms for all of these, and countless other professions.
Public schools and teachers in Tennessee accept every child regardless of ability, background, or disability. The goal is to make every student an educated, productive citizen. Teachers do far more than provide quality instruction to their students. They also provide food, clothing, counseling, tutoring, protection from abuse, medical assistance, and assurances of safety. Special educators, in particular, provide exceptional services for every imaginable disability, including children ranging from the exceedingly gifted to those with profound disabilities.
Unfortunately for Mr. Arnn, a public school critic, a public school education also confers the ability to listen, analyze, discern, and comprehend. It is clear that the motive for Mr. Arnn’s criticism of public schools and public school teachers is driven by his desire to expand his charter school empire into Tennessee. And from all indications, he has the assistance he seeks in this endeavor.
The value of public education and public school teachers cannot be adequately stated in any single writing. Rather, the value of public schools and public school teachers is demonstrated in the daily lives of Tennesseans who worship, work, give of their time and resources, assist their neighbors, and vote. The Tennessee Organization of School Superintendents gives its profound thanks to all of those in public education who strive daily to make this state a better place to live for all of its residents.
Rest assured, the Tennessee Organization of School Superintendents will work diligently to resist the efforts of misguided critics who are not “in the arena” and whose supercilious opinions are worthy only of collective disdain.
The Johnson City Press is not impressed with Gov. Bill Lee’s conduct as it relates to comments by education adviser and Hillsdale College President Larry Arnn regarding teachers.
Here’s what they had to say in a recent editorial:
After Bill Lee’s education adviser’s thoughts about teachers were revealed, we think he should stay on the campus of his private Michigan college and keep his nose out of Tennessee’s business.
At a private event in Franklin, Tennessee, last month, with our governor sitting silently on stage with him, Hillsdale College president Larry Arnn said, “The teachers are trained in the dumbest parts of the dumbest colleges in the country, and they’re taught that they’re going to go and do something to those kids.”
We aren’t sure where Arnn has been observing teachers in their classrooms, but we know it isn’t in our region.
Here’s more on Lee’s history of disrespecting public schools and their teachers:
