Is the above our new image of segregation in the Twenty-First Century in America?
The 14th Supreme Court Chief Justice Earl Warren concluded in our nation's 1954 landmark Brown Vs the Board of Education: "Segregation of white and colored children in public schools has a detrimental effect upon the colored children. The impact is greater when it has the sanction of the law, for the policy of separating the races is usually interpreted as denoting the inferiority of the Negro group...Any language in contrary to this finding is rejected.
We conclude that in the field of public education the doctrine of ‘separate but equal’ has no place. Separate educational facilities are inherently unequal. ”
61 years later, 22,462 days later I find our public schools more segregated than ever, not only by race, but by poverty. 22,462 days later I find 50 states and my nation compromising on equality at every step, and committed not to equality in our public schools, but to scams that harm our nation's children, their parents, their communities. Chief Justice Warren was clear:
"We conclude that in the field of public education the doctrine of 'separate but equal' has no place." I view high-stake assessments and the Common Core State Standards as clear evidence that we as a nation are in violation of the law, and more importantly of our moral obligation to our nation's children. I see no evidence that thousands of new charter schools have done anything to desegregate our public schools. I would even argue that their creation has increased segregtion in our public schools.
Common Core Standards do not differentiate instruction for
individual learners.
Common Core Standards do not valued our rich linguistic,
racial and cultural diversity in America.
Common Core Standards cannot adjust for poverty.
Teacher licensure examinations cannot measure a teacher's
ability, willingness, and competence to differentiate learning for all
learners.
In reality any set of standards that limit themselves to benchmarks
of performance without understanding that learners drive learning not bench
marks become examples of intolerance.
Any set of standards that are intolerant to the natural
diversity within our communities, schools, and classroom are:
1. Inherently bias against learners with special needs,
2. Inherently bias against multilingual learners,
3. Inherently bias against learners living in poverty, and
4. Inherently bias against immigrants and children of color.
Any teacher licensure examination cannot measure a teacher's
ability, willingness, and competence to differentiate learning for all learners
is not work the paper it is written on!
Any set of standards that promise to save our public schools
without requiring equity in our public schools are not worth the papers they
are written on!
No education reform without equity for all is not worth
researching.
No education reform that fails to affirm our nation's rich tapestry
of diversity is rooted in bias against the very nature of who we are as a
nation.
We will know genuine education reform by the only standard
that really matters EQUALITY in our public schools.
We will know genuine education reform that affirms children,
parents, and teachers by the standard ensuring we lift every voice.
We will know genuine education reform that affirms children
with special needs by its empathy, its humanity, and its love for all children.
We will know genuine education reform that affirms all
learners by its efforts to provide wrap around services not for some schools,
but for all schools.
We don't want your Common Core Standards.
We want equity, empathy and humanity.
If your education reform can't begin with these, than you
cannot claim to value all children.
Silence and apathy are not acceptable,
