Spotting nonsense by drawing diagrams

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

At the Idaho Freedom Foundation on December 17, 2021 there is another rant about education by Wayne Hoffman titled Let’s lift up Idahoans by getting government out of the way. The second sentence in his sixth paragraph caught my attention:

 

“…. All students deserve more than mediocrity.”

 

But that’s just part of the Lake Wobegon Effect, the closing sentence in a Garrison Keillor monologue:

 

"That's the news from Lake Wobegon, where all the women are strong, all the men are good-looking, and all the children are above average."

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

As shown above, only half of them can really be more than mediocre. An article by Kevin Richert in IdahoEdNews on February 18, 2019 titled Wayne Hoffman’s big disclaimer on public schools pointed out how Hoffman had notoriously claimed:

 

“I don’t think the government should be in the education business.”