It's okay to not read or write as long as you can dream . . .

At least that's the "hey, it's no big deal" attitude displayed by the president of Detroit's public school board following the revelation that he cannot write a coherent sentence.

Yes, that's right. The man IN CHARGE of 90,000 public school students is now admitting he never really learned to read or write well, despite having passed through the public school system, attending college (!), getting his teaching credentials (!!), and finally attaining a seat on a school board (!!!).

My head is spinning. Oh, wait, I think I'm smelling smoke. Yeah, it's definitely smoke. It's COMING OUT OF THE TOP OF MY SPINNING HEAD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

This would be funny if it wasn't so incredibly dire.

Otis Mathis, 56, told the Detroit Free Press he's had "difficulties with language" ever since the fourth grade where he spent time in special education classes.

He repeatedly failed English proficiency exams required for college graduation, thus holding up his diploma for TEN YEARS.

According to Fox News, Mathis also worked as a substitute teacher in some of Detroit's poorest schools -- you know, the ones that can least afford to have morons up at the blackboard.

So how does Mr. Mathis put a "kumbaya" feel-good spin on this latest education revelation?

"Instead of telling them that they can't write and won't be anything, I show that cannot stop you," Mathis told the paper. "If Detroit Public Schools can allow kids to dream, with whatever weakness they have, that's something. ... It's not about what you don't have. It's what you can do."

Seriously? You mean education really ISN'T about learning to read and write well so that you can access and use the ideas of those brilliant minds that have gone before you? You mean all we have to do to turn out well-educated citizens is just tell them they're educated?

Down here in Texas we call that "bullshit."

Seems to me that Mr. Mathis and those who promoted him from pillar to post did a little too much dreaming along the way with nary a reality check to keep them honest.

When WILL people whose children attend public schools rise up and demand their tax dollars be used for the actual education of their children as mandated by law?

Or better yet, when will people rise up and fight tooth and nail to teach their own?

When reading and writing aren't valued by those at the very top of the educational dog pile, it's time to give the taxpayers back their money and let alternatives to the status quo commence.

Shame on the teachers who didn't teach Mr. Mathis all those years ago. Shame on the university that finally gave him a degree. Shame on the Detroit Public Schools for hiring him into a position of authority as a teacher, and shame on Mr. Mathis himself for feeding from the public trough all these years even as he lived a lie.