My response is let us act, let us continue to fight back, let us push Civil Disobedience to the max, children are suffering. This is the time to occupy, march, sit in, disrupt, and yes for the Walking Man to Walk to DC again. Silence and apathy are not acceptable. Since NCLB's birth over a decade ago we have see our nation's schools becomes more segregated, less democratic, spend hundreds of billions on failed reforms, false choice, demoralized both students and teachers via more and more meaningless testing.
My thinking is NLCB created one lost generation, and RTTT is losing another.
I don't see side effects Anthony, but Collateral damage that David Berliner wrote about in 2007 "Collateral Damage: How High-Stakes Testing Corrupts America's Schools" Real lives have been destroyed by No excuse policy pushers.
Dialogue yes, but as Fredrick Douglas said: "Power concedes nothing without a demand. It never did and it never will."
Let us admit the No Excuses group is not backing down, conceding nothing, and seeking more top down control. They don't see children they see proficiency scores, profits, and power. They don't dialogue, they don't listen, and they care about children. Dialogue to them is we talk you listen not us.
I am still walking, still marching, and I'll be occupying Secretary Status Duncan's DOE in DC in April at Occupy the DOE 2.0 : The Battle For Our Public Schools. After that I plan my next next walk to DC this summer.
Sincerely
Jesse The Walking Man Turner
PS Read Anthony Cody's Blog, reply, and consider following him. I have always found him to be honest, fair, accurate, and informative.
Still listen to that old marching song Ain't gonna let nobody turn me around : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c5Z1trynEHs
How long will it take you to get to DC from where you are at. If you live in Maryland that is not very far Walking Man.
ReplyDeleteLast time it took me 40 days, and was roughly 400 miles. I am Connecticut anonymous. Along the way I'll invite people to meet me, walk a little, and hold Walking Man Events. I also have to buy two great pairs of new walking shoes as well.
ReplyDeleteThanks for noticing sometimes I wonder if any one is really out there(-:
Jesse
I wish I could join you on the walk, but it would be a long way to walk from Indiana....I might drive though. As a teacher and a parent of a child in a public school, I want to thank you for your dedication to this cause. I'm sure you are aware of the "education reform" efforts in my state. The good news is that the public is beginning to see where this is coming from and why!
ReplyDeleteMandy joining on the walk is not as important as fighting that battle locally. I was in Indiana in March, and people have a real battle there. Thank you for noticing, and you are so right people are waking up. The tide is turning, and we are all still marching.
ReplyDeleteI am walking to DC,
Jesse