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Sunday, February 26, 2006

Snapshots from Home:
Bethesda Chevy Chase High School


Having been let go from Georgetown University, Peace Studies enthusiast Colman McCarthy has resurfaced at Bethesda Chevy Chase High School, where, as at Georgetown, some people would like him to leave because he is a propagandist.

The Washington Post reports in particular on the efforts of two students to close the course down or have it reconfigured to make room for a modicum of scholarly disinterestedness. The Post doesn’t mention McCarthy’s history at Georgetown, where he was, an article noted at the time, “criticized for not having tests and allowing students to grade themselves.”

Nor does the Post article say whether his high school students get tests; but BCC seems to have dealt with McCarthy’s grade aversion by giving someone else the job: “Although a staff teacher takes roll and issues grades, it is McCarthy as a volunteer, unpaid guest lecturer who does the bulk of the teaching.”

How does this work in practice? McCarthy teaches, and another teacher attends all the classes and judges the students?