In our world of world of top down NCLB/RTTT education reform we find children, parents, teachers, community activists, and educators silenced, marginalized, and locked out of any meaningful discussion on education policy. In a world gone mad I walk for change, I write for change, I will occupy for change this spring. Silence and apathy are not acceptable when it comes to our children.
While walking in Ireland and visiting Occupy in Dublin I found myself singing Bob Marley's "Woman No Cry"...the line I keep hearing is "My feet is my only carriage... So I've got to push on through".
When you are silenced, when you are locked out of the debate you learn to become a torn in the lion's foot. You become a constant reminder that all is not what it seems to these Top Down Reformers. If you read my blog, follow "Children Are More Than Test Scores" on Facebook, and know my work with Save Our Schools then you know my thorn story. Like Bob Marley I understand my feet is my only carriage, and like Marley I keep hearing those redemption songs. They remind me I am not alone.
On my walks I break the silence placed upon me with song, scripture, and by reading the stories of the oppressed. The lord said to Joshua " Have I not commanded thee? Be strong and of good courage; be not afraid, niether thou dismayed; for the Lord thy God is with thee wither soever thou goest."
Today I want to share two other thorns in the feet of our education Policy makers in DC with my readers. The first is the untold story of school reform in New Orleans where parents and the Southern Poverty Law Center are moving forward with their law suit against the Louisiana State Board of Education seeking access to equal education for the special needs children of New Orleans.
Parents will not be silence. Look out parents in Florida New Orleans is the model Florida legislators have in mind with their so called "parent trigger law". I salute the SPLC and the parents of Special Needs Children in the city of New Orleans for their courage to fight back. They are not alone.
The second Thorn story is a mother blogger who has kept on fighting against a Charter School no one really seems to want in her community except for a millionaire real estate magnet. She has fought tirelessly to expose lie after lie told on the application for a new charter repeatedly denied by the state of New Jersey, but who somehow managed to get 600,000 dollars from The United States Department of Education. "Mother Crusader" writes:
" I Never intended to become a parent advocate until I watched the great schools in my little town come under attack. The more I learned about what was happening the more I read. The more I read the more I saw how what is happening here is tied to towns across not only New Jersey, but the country. And now I'm in the thick of it, and I can't think of anything I'd rather be doing." Read about this her thorn story.
This is not about Charter Vs regular public schools this is about silencing children, parents, and teachers. Not all charters are bad, and not all public schools are good. The question for me is when will our policy makers start helping to improve all our schools by supporting them. This might be the last struggle to keep the public in our public schools.
Silence and apathy are not acceptable when it comes to our children.
Today on my walk I listen to bob Marley's No Woman No Cry... and just in case you want to see Bob sing it:
I sing no woman no cry...My feet are my only carriage...so I got to push on...and the Walking Man says to his brothers and sisters we are not alone. We are the thorns that stop those mighty lions in their tracks. We are the truth, and we are still marching,
Jesse
