"Kid can't even read...T-T-TODAY, JUNIOR!"

You hear the one about the teacher who couldn't read, write or spell?

No punchline--this is no joke.

John Corcoran, who taught high school for 17 years in the Oceanside School District in El Paso, managed to pass each grade level without the ability to read, write or spell. He maintains that he cheated his way through high school and college (Texas Western University), going so far as to date the valedictorian and have a friend pass him essay answers through an open window during a test.
HOW DOES THIS HAPPEN?

I mean, I know I slacked a bit in high school, but had I not been able to read, I'm pretty sure I wouldn't have graduated. This is appalling!

His teaching methods were based on visual and oral presentations, and he used teacher assistants to do work on the board and read aloud.

"As a teacher it really made me sick to think that I was a teacher who couldn't read. It is embarrassing for me, and it's embarrassing for this nation and it's embarrassing for schools that we're failing to teach our children how to read, write and spell!" - John Corcoran.

Oh, but let's celebrate the fact that, at age 48, the guy finally took the time to learn how to read. This is almost unbelievable...it kind of makes me question the legitimacy of this.

But ughh, this just solidifies my opinion that people are not put through rigorous enough testing and observation before becoming a teacher and shaping the minds of young America. And education majors/teachers, go ahead, tell me I'm wrong, but I know a handful of people becoming teachers that I would absolutely not want teaching my children in 10 years.

But then again, those people at least know how to read...I hope.

Hannah tries to pull a little switcheroo

Big news on the Hannah Montana front: Miley Cyrus is not the only bubbly adolescent bouncing around the stage during her "Hannah Montana" tour--there's an impostor, GASP!!!!

Yeah, this isn't really a big deal to me, but I know it comes as an uber shock to the bajillions of Miley Cyrus fans to find out that Miley is using a body double during shows.

When you check out the video below, you'll notice around the 2:20 mark that Hannah Montana is ushered into a trap door by a back-up dancer who blatantly covers her with a black cloak, and then suddenly, a Hannah lookalike pops out wearing gaudy sunglasses and hair covering her face and starts dancing like a complete moron. So obv not HM, duuuuhhh.

Representatives for Miley said the time is used for a quick costume change and otherwise, the teen superstar sings live the entire show.

I have two problems with this. First of all, what is the difference between Hannah Montana and Miley Cyrus during the show? Someone please clear this up for me. Actually, I don't really care. My second concern is this: For all the money that this little girl and this franchise make, they can't come up with a better and less conspicuous way for the girl to have a wardrobe change?

I'm serious. Watch the video and see how awful the change is. Actually, this entire segment looks like a complete yawnfest. Why are people paying thousands of dollars and killing off their parents for this again?

'The Hills' in Paris, real? Je ne crois pas!

Sorry, 'Hills' haters. Just a little tid bit of news for those on Team Lauren who are salivating in anticipation for the next eight episodes of season three...

More tampering with reality going on in The Hills, according to The New York Post's Page Six. Before Lauren and Whitney went to Paris, apparently producers were “frantically calling publicists to see if anyone knew any guys to set the girls up with in Paris. If they had a love affair there, then it would look better,” a source told Page Six.

When we catch up with Lauren and Whitney in Paris, we'll see the girls being set up with a band called Rock & Roll - yes, the most creative band name known to man - and Lauren miiiight be hooking up with the band's guitar player, Matthias. Scandalous.

Sucks for Brody.

According to a bulletin Audrina posted on MySpace yesterday, the episodes will be airing in late February/early March, and I've seen on MTV.uk that the show is scheduled to return on Jan. 20.

And in response to recent reports that Lauren's bff had joined Team Heidi? As fake as the show itself (those obviously weren't her words, p.s.). Audrina says she's been spending time away from Lauren to be with her pregnant sister and if she runs into Heidi out in a club, they will acknowledge each other's presence but they are not friends.

UPDATED: Lauren and Whitney will more than likely not be with Teen Vogue during the fourth season, according to a spokeswoman. "The girls have moved on from Teen Vogue," she said, declining to say whether or not Teen Vogue will be part of the series next time.

No holds barred for Hannah

I bet my parents are glad that Hannah Montana did not exist during my childhood. Kids across the nation are begging, kicking and screaming to get their hands on HM tickets these days, and seriously, who wants to disappoint their kids?

But at the same time, spineless parents who will stop at nothing to get these tickets to please their kiddies (and probably brag around the water cooler) are ruining it for everyone.

Priscilla Ceballos, a woman from Garland, Texas, recently submitted an essay on behalf of her daughter, which began with the line, "My daddy died in Iraq this year," for a Hannah Montana Rock Your Holidays Essay Contest. Prizes included tickets to Hannah Montana's sold-out concert in Albany, New York in January, airfare and accommodations to the show and a Hannah Montana gift bag.

Her essay won the contest... only one problem: it was one big, fat lie.

The woman told contest officials that the girl's father, Sgt. Jonathon Menjivar, died April 17 in a roadside bombing in Iraq, but the Department of Defense has no record of anyone with that name dying in Iraq.

Ceballos admitted to the deception, according to a spokeswoman for Club Libby Lu, the store holding the contest. The company is considering taking away the tickets.

"We did the essay and that's what we did to win. We did whatever we could do to win." --Priscilla Ceballos, in an interview with Dallas TV station KDFW.

Ruthless, but hey, if a good friend of mine hadn't gotten me tickets to the upcoming Spice Girls concert, maybe I'd consider doing the same.