If you thought a reality TV show like MTV’s new “Jersey Shore” could never be educational, well, you were right. The new series, which features eight Italian-American boys and girls living together in a house in New Jersey for the summer of 2009, hit a new low, or rather, a cast member literally hit a new low--the floor. A bar outing last August turned sour when cast member Nicole “Snooki” Polizzi got decked in the face by an intoxicated jerk who had swiped the cast’s drinks off the bar. The video clip blazed around the internet, inciting a tabloid storm about whether or not MTV will include the violent segment in next week’s episode (they will not). So what’s the edu-angle? It turns out that the puncher was a New York public-school (gym) teacher named Brad Ferro. He’s since been put on administrative leave and placed in--you guessed it--a NYC teacher detention center, a.k.a. “rubber room.” Maybe now, Ferro can start his own rubber room reality show revealing the true goings-on inside possibly the worst compromise ever made between district and union. Of course, he’ll need his own nickname. Good thing you can generate your own “Jersey Shore” moniker online. From now on, Gadfly will be known as Thomas “T-Muscle” Fordham.
“'Jersey Shore' slugger is a Qns. teacher,” by Yoav Gonen and Lorena Mongelli, The New York Post, December 11, 2009