Since when did 2nd graders reading about rape make sense?

Should 8-Year-Olds Be Reading Stories That Glorify Rape?

After her 2nd grader was assigned a story that glorifies rape and extols whiteness as the standard for beauty, a mother tackles bias in elementary school literature head on. http://www.alternet.org/education/why-are-8-year-olds-reading-stories-glorify-rape 

People you can't make this s__t up.  Childhood innocence will always come second to standards driven by proficiency levels. We have 3rd graders reading Tolstoy in New York as part of the Common Core. We are even being told our kindergartners should start preparing for college.

Who are these people? My thinking is they are a bunch of fools. The same fools who are putting for sale signs on our schools, reducing children to data, and bashing teachers. The very people who do not send their own children to public schools. Madness, madness , madness, and more madness. 

My daughter is 23, and she is home for the holidays from graduate school. I get going to college people. She turned out to be a beautiful person, but I so dearly miss reading Roald Dahl's Danny Champion of the world and E. B. White's Charlotte's Web. What parent looking at their children in their adulthood thinks why didn't I rush them quicker through Childhood? Childhood is such a waste of time. If only they could be born adults.
What about the standards of holding a child's hand, walking, climbing trees, exploring, and imagining a world of friendly dragons.
Who are these Ed Deformers rushing childhood?
... Children Are More Than Test Scores,
I am walking to DC,
Jesse

If you want to know what the walking is listening to..it's Bob Carlisle's "Butterfly Kisses" http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2FyjKQvWKw8

Spreading the News links from the amazing Bob Scheaffer

Happy New Year to the resistance, 

In 2007 almost no one criticized NCLB. In 2008 Race To The Top had few critics either, in 2009 there were no Anti NCLB groups on Facebook. In 2010 resistance to NCLB/RTTT was growing on Facebook. Still on my 2010 walk to DC I felt lonely and alone on most days. In 2011 8,000 people marched to DC with Save Our Schools. In 2012 Opt Out Occupied the DOE in DC, and Save Our Schools Held a School Reform Convention in DC. The point is the tide has turned, and resistance to NCLB/RTTT is growing. Opt Out is going back to DC April 4-7 for Occupy 2.0: The Fight For Our Public Schools, and Parents Across America and Save Our Schools are still marching. So start spreading the news people this is no longer a one horse town. See you in DC at Occupy 2.0 people.
I am walking to DC,
Jesse 

The new year kicks off with another excellent set of stories about the growing assessment reform movement and the many flaws of test-driven policies.

Sixth-grader Persuades WashPost Columnist to Support Testing Moratorium
  http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/class-struggle/post/exceptional-dc-student-educates-me/2013/01/06/b75ce0fa-5761-11e2-8b9e-dd8773594efc_blog.html

Testing Scam Puts Public Schools at Risk
  http://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/opinion/os-ed-school-testing-myword-010413-20130103,0,1595639.story

Texans Advocating for Meaningful Student Assessment Op Ed -- "School Testing System Badly Needs Fixing"
  http://www.statesman.com/news/news/opinion/school-testing-system-badly-needs-fixing/nTjh8/

"The True Cost of High-Stakes Testing" -- Powerpoint presentation by Orlando School Board Member
  http://blogs.orlandosentinel.com/news_education_edblog/2013/01/new-anti-testing-presentation-from-rick-roach.html

What Research Really Says About Florida's Test-Based "Reforms"
  http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/answer-sheet/wp/2013/01/09/what-research-says-about-floridas-ed-reform-model/

Gates Teacher Evaluation Scheme "Trapped in a World of Circular Reasoing"
  http://schoolfinance101.wordpress.com/2013/01/09/gates-still-doesnt-get-it-trapped-in-a-world-of-circular-reasoning-flawed-frameworks/

To Test or Not To Test -- National Opt-Out Day Debate
  http://www.mlive.com/opinion/muskegon/index.ssf/2013/01/two_viewpoints_should_students.html

Race to the Trough and State Regs Force Change in Model Teacher Evaluations Systems
  http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/answer-sheet/wp/2013/01/07/moco-schools-chief-on-new-teacherprincipal-evaluation-systems/

Test-Maker Ethical Problems in Dealing With Chicago Public Schools
  http://pureparents.org/?p=20184

Rhee-First Grades States on Education Ideology Not Results
  http://www.dailykos.com/story/2013/01/07/1177063/-Rhee-s-StudentsFirst-grades-education-on-ideology-not-results

High-Stakes Testing Won't Fix What's Wrong with Our Educational System
  http://www.cvfarmerandminer.com/content/high-stakes-testing-and-charters-won%E2%80%99t-fix-what%E2%80%99s-wrong-our-educational-system

Bob Schaeffer, Public Education Director
FairTest: National Center for Fair & Open Testing
ph-  (239) 395-6773  fax-  (239) 395-6779
cell- (239) 699-0468 
web- http://www.fairtest.org 

No one is above the law, but Congress

I thought this one might interesting to those of us who are paying back student loans. The children of Congressional members do not have to pay back their students loans. Government by the people for congressional privilege. Congress we make the laws for other people to follow! 
As longs as the people who make the rules don't have to follow them we are a people bondage of inequity. Dr. Martin Luther King wrote in A letter from Birmingham Jail That " Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere" (1963). How many many humiliations must we endure. 
I am walking to DC,
Jesse



You say you want a revolution by the Beatles
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KrkwgTBrW78
We sure could use one now people!