Well some 4000 members later even I can say "Children are more than test scores" is growing, and it does not look like it is slowing down. I am of course walking away as always.
The news is tough out there. In Florida they are trying to tie teacher's pay and tenure to test scores. Then there is the story about the Irish teenager living in Massachusetts that committed suicide because she was being bullied. This story more than anything else demonstrates the fallacy behind NCLB/RTTT the top in my opinion.
A focus on test scores does make our children good neighbors, good friends, good citizens, or ethical and moral adults. Actually I imagine all those boy and girls on Wall Street whose greed nearly broke our banks had great test scores. However, truth, honesty, and integrity were not part of the test they needed to pass. In these areas they were lacking, and the American Tax payers had to foot the bill.
So our teenagers bully a new student to the point that she takes her own life.
Not a sound from the White House.
Not a sound from United States Secretary of Education Arne Duncan!
Not a sound from Arne Duncan the man who had his own VIP list for the rich and powerful in Chicago who wanted their children placed into Chicago's top schools!
Not a sound!
Well Dear Lord this is Jesse Patrick Turner, and today my Whispered prayers are with Phoebe Prince the teenage who took her own life as a result of bullies. Please Lord hold her in your arms for us, and ease her pain. Comfort her family and her friends as well.
And yes forgive her administrators who did not do their job. Their job was to protect a young 15 year-old girl whose parents thought America's schools were places where children are more than test scores.
Help us to see the bigger picture on this Good Friday? Help our policy makers and politicians understand that they can’t test what really counts? Integrity, honesty, and honor are not on their tests.
My music on my walks lately is all spiritual, still listening to “He Walks with Me” and Julie Collins version of “Amazing Grace”. Love John Michael Talbot's " Here I am, lord"and Leela James's "A change is gonna come" lifts me all the time.
I am also praying as I walk, and I am walking 8 miles a day since 3/31/10. I feel compelled to push the distance this week. Walking keeps me focused on the road ahead. The world needs changing, and I need walking, and somehow my faith tells me it will all come together.
I am walking to DC,
Jesse
