So you think you can teach? @thebentruler parody

Take an industry - in this case, education - that is suffering from severe budget constraints.

Combine it with the reality TV craze that has been going on through the entire millennium (and part of the last one).

Combine both of those with @thebentruler, specializing in parody and satire for educators.

The result? The July 18 post, School System’s “So You Think You Can Teach” Program Deemed a Success.

The loser complained to a union rep:

From what I could ascertain from this teacher in question was that ‘contestants’ were placed in a classroom setting with actual students and were given the task of completing a lesson and handling whatever ‘typical’ classroom distractions that might arise. Well, that’s all well and good, but I don’t call releasing a ‘sexually forward’ billy goat slathered in some form of industrial strength adhesive into the classroom a ‘typical’ scenario.

The winner took it all in stride:

Mr. Maxwell, 34, was the only one of the thirteen competitors to complete all the challenges, and he credits his survival to his prior experience teaching at an alternative school in inner city Atlanta. “I mean, there was some weird stuff that went down,” said Maxwell, silencing the ringer on his cell phone, “but I had seen most of the stuff they threw at me, and the rest, I just used some good old-fashioned common sense. Take that goat, for instance. As soon as I saw that that thing was going to be trouble, I ran over to it, (and most people don’t know this, but you can spook some goats and they literally become paralyzed with fear); so anyway, I ran over there and clapped my hands real loud and barked like a dog, and that thing dropped like a deuce.”

More here.