Member-only story
New York City Department of Education
No Fun with Dick or Jane: How NYC’s $8 Million+ Black Studies Curricula Fails Public School Students
Here, we go. Hi. Hi. Um. My name is Jane and I’ll be your instructor here today for …Uh … beginner’s Jin Ku Pao. So, let’s just get right into it. Here we go!
Those are the lines Téa Leoni gave as the character Jane in the 2005 dramedy “Fun with Dick and Jane” co-starring Jim Carrey; both of whom were attempting to recoup lost income after Jim’s character, Dick, lost his high-paying corporate job. “Dick” took a job as a greeter at a wholesale club, and “Jane” took a fitness instructor’s position for a course she didn’t know how to teach. Spoiler: They both quit/got fired after the first day.
This is what happens when you hire people who may look the part but fail to know the content of their jobs.
Jane needed the money. She took a position to teach content about which she knew nothing and left her students physically injured and in dispute.
It is a humorous scene that skips between her mishaps and those of her husband on the same workday. But what makes “Fun with Dick and Jane” a dramedy is that amid the laughter is the reality of mishires ruining products and companies.