Please don't send me 'excuses.' I've heard them already--from
union officers who tell me they have other fish to fry, teachers who
insist putting initials on a petition will cost them their jobs, etc.
etc.
.. Susan Ohanian
I hate petitions and think they do little good. But when Susan Ohanian speaks I listen. Here is the link:
http://wh.gov/lV7q7
White House Petition
Although I have strong reservations about petitions, I
launched a petition to the White House, hoping to draw attention of the
public and the press to the fact that massive standardized testing is
Presidential policy. I hope you will read the petition, sign it, and
promote it.
The rules are that a petition must garner 100,000 signatures in
30 days to get White House 'attention.' Sad to say, after 5 days, we
have only 1,326 signatures. With 3.5 million public school teachers, not
to mention concerned parents, my disappointment is dissolving into
rage. Please don't send me 'excuses.' I've heard them already--from
union officers who tell me they have other fish to fry, teachers who
insist putting initials on a petition will cost them their jobs, etc.
etc.
I'm keeping a tally state by state. Here are those with most signers:
New York: 168
California: 121
Michigan: 58
Illinois: 52
Connecticut: 48
Washington: 44
Indiana: 46
Massachusetts: 41
New Jersey: 31
And least.
Delaware: 2
Montana: 2
Wyoming: 2
North Dakota: 1
Here's the petition:
http://wh.gov/lV7q7
2 comments:
The trouble with White Hoise petitions is that they make you sign in to an "account" before you can sign a petition. Why would some one want a White House account, especially these days.
Let me know if there's a way around this. Susan, start a separate unattached petition and see how that flies.
"These days" the White House already knows everything about you. The point of this one was put the President on the spot. Directly.
It's a failure because there are always ready excuses not to do it.
Start another petition? You've got to be kidding. As I said in my note to subscribers, I think most petitions are useless. I just had a shred of hope that this one could be different. Teachers proved it can't because they won't participate. Years ago we kept an anti-NCLB petition online (for which you didn't have to register with the WH or anybody else) for more than a year. In that time we managed to get ~50,000 signers. That's all. Out of 3.5 million teachers. And never mind that lots of parents signed.
I thought maybe teachers were angrier now. Now I know anger just leads to whining, not action.
As Kurt Vonnegut pointed out, So it goes.
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