Today I shall walk with the Moral

Today Monday June 5, at 4:PM in Hartford Connecticut at the Legislative Chambers.
I will answer the call to the faithful, people of good conscience, and the just issued by Connecticut's Clergy to go to the Legislative chamber to demand a Moral Budget.

Today I will walk in the light of a greater good.

Today I will walk with my DueJustice brothers and sisters.

Today I will walk with our men and women of our clergy of all faiths.

Today I will walk with our non-profit agency leaders who serve the poor.

Today I will walk with my union brothers and sisters.

Today I will answer the call to justice.

Rev Barber said: "it is emotionally sick to deny people health care."

I would add it is evil for the wealthiest and most nation in the world not to provide medical care to all their own citizens.

When judgement day comes?

Shall our leaders say Lord, we could have asked the wealthy do pay more, but that would have limited to 5 or 6 mansions only Lord.

While they raise taxes on the middle-class lord. They reduced taxes by half on the wealthy since the 1960s.

What shall they say Lord?

They fear asking the wealthy to pay more might mean lowering their standard of living might fall.

Shall our legislators cry out Lord we could have could have ask them to pay more to help the sick, but the sick should have taken care of themselves.

Johnny Cash sang the "The man going round"

"There's a man goin' 'round takin' names

And he decides who to free and who to blame

Everybody won't be treated all the same

There'll be a golden ladder reachin' down

When the man comes around"

I don't need the man to come around to stand up for my brothers and sisters who are sick.

I don't need the man to come around to stand up for my brothers and sisters who are hungry.

I don't need the man to come around to tell me that 49 states spending more money on their wealthy schools than their poor schools to stand up for our poor schools.

I don't don't need the man to come around. I need to stand up for those that can't stand up for themselves.

I am my brother's and sister's keeper, and they are mine.

Today I will be a Moral Man.

Jesse The Walking Man Jami Turner



If you want to know what I am listening to this morning as I prepared to walk with Connecticut's Clerical Leader its...Johnny Cash singing "There's a man going round" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k9IfHDi-2EA

Where has all the money gone, long time passing

Where has all the money gone, long time passing,
Gone to profits everywhere, long time passing,
When will we ever learn,
When will we ever learn.

Accountability matters, and so does the stealth robbery of funding for our public schools.
In the late 1990's Former Secretary of Education William Bennett saw a potential 250-billion-dollar assessment market.
NCLB and Race To The Top more than doubled on that prediction.
Public school students use to be test three time in the past. Once in Elementary school, once in middle school, and once in high school. This is still the way it is still done by most nations. Especially the nation's out scoring America on international assessments.
Let me play with the math a little. We have about 53 million children in our public schools. It takes some 13 years to complete a child's public education. In 2015 NCLB and RTTT first 53 million children completed their public-school journey.

In my day those children would have taken national/state exams three times costing about 300 dollars per child. Now when we calculate it out for 53 million students it come to somewhere around:
300 U.S. dollars per child over 13 years. Time that by 53 million = 15.9 billion U.S. dollars A massive amount of money. Testing in our public schools has always been a lucrative business.
Now people stay with me people? Under NCLB and Race To The Top testing when from 3 standardized tests to some 112 standardized tests per child. No one in the Department of Education wants to put a number on the cost of those 112 Standardized tests that children take during their 13 years in our public schools. But, heck let me take a shot at it for them? Let us say buying these tests and paying for the scoring equal somewhere around a 100.00 a pop.

So that comes 11, 200 U.S. dollars for every child during their public-school experience. Sure, sounds like a great deal of money. In most districts that equals what many schools spend to educate a child. Now we don't want to stop people. We have to take that 11,200 dollars, and times it by 53 million to fully see the cost of testing in our public schools. That comes 593.6 billion U.S. dollars for every generation of children that pass through our public schools. That is over 45 billion dollars for every year during a child's public school experience.

Where have all the art teachers gone,
Where have all the music teachers gone,
Where have all the Special Education teachers gone,
Where have all the Reading Specialists gone,
Where have all the school councilors gone,
Where have all the school social workers gone,
Where have all school nurses gone,
Where have all Gym teachers gone,
Where have 540 learning days gone,
Where have all teachers gone,

Gone to 112 Standardized tests everywhere, long time passing,
Where has all the money gone, Gone to profits everywhere, long time passing,
Where have all our school house smiles gone, long time passing,
Gone to tears everywhere, long time passing,
When will we ever learn,
When will we ever learn.

Parents, students, and teacher must Fight For Six, before ESSA robs another generation of hundreds of billions of dollars on useless testing.
Fight this insanity,
Jesse The Walking Man Turner

If you want to listen to what tune inspired this walking man on his walk this morning in the rain...its Pete Seeger singing “Where Have All The Flowers Gone” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T1t...

I stand with the Chicago Six Teachers

When Public Education punishes teachers for standing up for the children they teach? Then that system is corrupt.

When teachers are punished for being the "Mediums of Action for children, parents, and our local schools the system is broken.
John Dewey said: “It is advisable that the teacher should understand, and even be able to criticize, the general principles upon which the whole educational system is formed and administered. He is not like a private soldier in an army, expected merely to obey, or like a cog in a wheel, expected merely to respond to and transmit external energy; he must be an intelligent medium of action."

When we punish a teacher like Chicago teacher Sarah Chambers for advocating for the students she teaches, for the community she teaches in, and for her fellow teachers? The message is clear! Our children do not matter, Our parents do not matter, And public education becomes a system of abuse. Sarah is not alone in being punished in Chicago. There are 5 other teachers currently suspended for being vocal advocates for their schools and students. Let me say their names: Kevin Triplett, Joseph Dunlap, Laura Sierra, Jessie Hudson, Jose Contreras. Below is a link to video statements from these CTU hero teachers. Please click it, and also understand this is going on all over our nation. http://www.ctunet.com/rights-at-wor...

Chicago is trying to shut down any opposition from teachers who risk being Dewey’s “Medium of Action.” They are teachers brave enough to criticize a corrupt public school system. They are being punished for rejecting silence and compliance with inequity and injustice in Chicago’s public schools.
We can support them. Here are the two simple things they like us to do:
Call Claypool at (773) 553-1500 and the Board of Ed at (773) 553-1600 and demand that they stop targeting teachers for standing up for their students.
Defend and support the CTU Six and other teacher advocates by promoting the #CTU6 hashtag and #CTU6 content on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.

I salute the Chicago Six, for their courage and commitment to the children they teach, to the communities they teach in, and for being our “Mediums of Action.” This isn’t about unionism this is about teachers being punished for advocating for the children they teach, and the public schools they teach in. When we remain silent and apathetic to systems of abuse we become tools of oppression.
I stand with the Chicago Six,
Jesse The Walking Man Turner

If you want to know what this Walking Man listened to on his walk this morning...its..Rebel Diaz song “Chicago Teacher” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3yN...

I'm walking with Rebel Diaz's words inspiring my every step. Thinking and standing with my Chicago brothers and sisters in their struggle against that CPS System of Abuse! 

"Homey I was taught by a Chicago teacher!
Chicago teacher, Chicago teacher!
I learned to read and write from a Chicago teacher,
So I’m inspired by the fight from our Chicago teachers!" 

"The teachers are tired, the students dumbfounded,
the budgets get cut so classes are overcrowded.
Streets full of violence, the blue code of silence
so imma keep rhyming til salaries start rising!
The unions uprising! takin to the streets!
The workers are United so the Mayor's got beef!
Rahm's a fake pretender with a corporate agenda"