This blog welcomes readers who believe that No Child Left Behind and Race To The Top, and Every Student Succeeds Act are misguided educational reform policies that rely too heavily on standardized test scores that are too focused on punitive measures against local schools. This is also the diary of Jesse Turner's 2010/15 walks to Washington DC from Connecticut, and his occupation of the DOE in DC with United Opt Out, and his opposition to public school choice policies without equity.
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Thursday, March 25, 2010
Walkng to DC, March 25, 2010
Today my whispered prayers were for Florida's teachers. The Florida Senate passed a bill that ties half a teacher's salary to test scores and placing their job on the line over a set of years. My prayers are whispers that some day our political leaders in Florida, Washington DC, and in every corner of this nation will come to understand this simple truth America's children as more than test scores.
Music for my walk today, lots of folk stuff, Pete Seeger, Peter Paul, and Mary, Dylan, and lots of rockers singing versions of "We shall over come". I love Bruce Springsteen’s version. I was outdoors; Shirley from Connecticut said you need practice on streets, curves, hills, grass, and tar mat surfaces. What Shirley says people tend to do! Outdoors it was, and it was a perfect walk.
Another 6 miles down. My meditations today led me to consider reading as a form of resistance and action. If an author exposes a powerful lie, (even if she may have been an insider) does reading her book become a form of civic action when it questions the status quo pushing that lie? I decided yes reading is an action, so is writing, emailing, calling, faxing, twittering, facebooking, standing up, sitting down, walking, and speaking up. Silent acceptance is not an action.
Our children are so much more than test scores, and so are parents and teachers. Wake up Washington DC!
I am walking to DC,
Jesse
Glorious Sight!! Those Daffodils mean there is enough heat in the ground around you and your home to bring New Life to the surface!! Thank YOU for bringing NEW LIFE to our dying education system!! You're not alone in this pursuit for a NEW Beginning .... Keep up the good work and Keep on Walking!!
ReplyDeleteKim, I can't wait until the tulips come. I am a little worry about my Lilies, because I'll be walking when they are blooming. I love my garden. I love drinking my coffee in the garden, and watching my babies grow....
ReplyDelete