My reaction to Marc Fisher's new piece in The New Yorker on the Horace Mann scandal was different. His primary subject was a particular teacher, Robert Berman, who taught English at Horace Mann for many years. As a father and a person, I am saddened and disgusted by the stories about Jerry Sandusky and the abuse by Catholic priests. But Fisher's description of Berman provokes something even more visceral.
image from http://horacemannsurvivor.org/
I teach at a private school, and have done so for more than 20 years. I am personally invested and interested in my students. I keep in touch with some of them for many years after they graduate. As a result, I feel smeared by Berman, besmirched by association. Here's what I mean: Megan McArdle, of The Daily Beast wonders aloud why we have not more generally questioned the existence or structure of private schools as an institution, given these accusations. Her hypothesis is that too many journalists and other people of privilege went to these schools, and therefore are reluctant to expose the problem. In other words, my school is probably just as bad as Horace Mann, but the issue is being covered up.
That Horace Mann administrators fell for the intellectual facade is sad in itself. That they allowed him to use it in the furtherance of a crime is beyond disgrace. They do not represent us as a profession; they are not representative as a cross-section.
To teach is to empower. Berman prowled for the weak and vulnerable, found them at their lowest ebb, and then exploited them. He belittled them, according to Fisher, and exalted himself.That he could abuse his power in that particular way is worthy not only of anger, but of contempt. If Fisher's story is even half right, Berman is a despicable human being, the lowest of the low.
Not only that, but he appears from Fisher's account to be a loser. The beatnik affectation of suits and sunglasses, the writing of lists (the refuge of intellectual dwarfs), and the tedious, pedantic writing he did, using big words in an attempt to mask small ideas, indicate a wannabe seeking approval.
2 comments:
You bring up some valid points about Berman, his teaching and his methods. However, it isn't as simple as all that.
Not to be appear too glib, Berman's major failing though, was his breaching of professional ethics. He chose to make some of his students his "dates".
That is the reason why he is the subject of discussion today and why if he could be prosecuted he should be.
That is also the reason why Horace Mann (Pedophile High) should be shut down. They not only silenced and covered up the actions of a large number of their faculty, but the were willing participants in it, from the Headmaster down.
It was (and probably still is) a culture of child abuse.
Anonymous,
I would say that some teachers, even at Horace Mann, may have fit your characterization. They may have been good teachers in many ways and for many people, but then breached professional ethics in a serious way sort of on the side. That does not make the breach any less egregious, but it does change the nature of the offense.
Berman seems different to me. Everything about what he did, as described in the New Yorker piece, was wrong. It was egotistical, abusive and warped. It inverted the proper goals of good teaching.
As for whether Horace Mann still harbors a culture of abuse, I think it's not fair to assume. That's part of my point: not all teachers, including those at Horace Mann, are bent.
Post a Comment