Friday, May 15, 2009

Suze Orman Goes Crazy

Really, though? "Goes," is the verb in that title? (And not "is," for example?) The New York Times profile of the personal finance guru features Orman's insulting and offensive take on teachers:

"She [Orman] has been reluctant to work on school curricula on personal finance, because she says students can’t learn empowerment from people who aren’t empowered, and teachers, she says, are too underpaid ever to have any real self-worth. She told me: 'When you are somebody scared to death of your own life, how can you teach kids to be powerful? It’s not something in a book — it ain’t going to happen that way.' She once delivered pretty much the same message at an anniversary celebration of a private school — she seems to recall calling the school a 'travesty' — and was all but escorted to the door when she was done."


I'm with her that teachers are underpaid, but I don't see how it follows that they're "too underpaid ever to have any real self-worth." I mean, really? Self-worth is determined only by compensation? I'm not saying compensation can't be a part of it, but do you think that teachers (and people in general) may find self-worth in more than one place, and not completely in their bank balances? And teachers are "scared to death of life?" That's just ridiculous. Can I get a "Yikes!" over here?