You don't get 500 people out to a rally without organizing or an organization to do the organizing. This is the face of social justice unionism, an event at which Unity and New Action were absent. Change the Stakes was the outgrowth of the work of GEM as has been MORE. Both groups work together. CTS joined with Parent Voices and Time Out From Testing to put this event together. More are coming and we expect the MORE caucus, now that elections are over, to be MORE involved in this movement.
The entire structure of ed deform and the assault on teachers and children emanate from the high stakes testing agenda. Note the vicious attacks on the editorial pages against parents who are opting out. They cannot blame the teachers for this one, so instead they attack the parents. So far this movement has come from the white middle class public school parents but people of color, especially in poor communities are taking note of the negative impact of HST on their children and are beginning to join in, the worst nightmare for the ed deformers.
Photos by Michael Solo (John Dewey HS) and Pat Dobosz (PS 157K).
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| Testing expert Fred Smith |
Links to coverage so far:
Letters to the NY Times:
Rally stories
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| Arthur Goldstein, CL Francis Lewis HS and John Liu |
What you seem to want is gentle segregated capitalist schooling that teaches lies, like nationalism, to kids in more effective ways than high stakes exams. Why do you think the nationally regimented curriculum (Common Core), high stakes exams, merit pay, and the militarization of schooling happens? Because the education agenda is a war agenda: class and empire's wars. Not attacking the whole of the problem, which lies beneath the reality of corporate state, fascist, school, simply makes that state more powerful. Why have school? http://www.counterpunch.org/2010/09/07/why-have-school/
ReplyDeleteRich, I appreciate all the work you do but I am not ready to attack the whole of the problem mainly because taking on such a big chunk doesn't seem to move the needle. I am happy to take little steps and getting 500 parents and teachers together is worth something. If we go whole hog we might feel better, along with the one other person standing with us.
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