0125: Dear #Students, Take Back Your #Education
#SOSchat @DianeRavitch #occupyedu #revolution
What will it take for learners to take matters of testing into their own hands? Can it be done? Students subconsciously resist abusive testing practices through ‘means’ that have created the classroom management focus we have today. Resistance, conscious or subconscious, is not an option. The human spirit requires rebellion to counter oppression— always. But, what will it take to move this rebellion to the front of the mind? What will be the catalyst for a truly organized kids liberation? Voices from teachers and parents ring loudly against the constant onslaught of corporate reforms and ridiculous education practices. We talk and talk. We continue to teach, when and how we can. Students continue to struggle. The learners are beneath the heel of this entire debacle.
What would happen if, come test day, students didn’t show up at all? What if they all showed up with, say, a stomach bug and soiled all the testing materials with vomit? What if they broke their no. 2 pencils and walked out? What if learners all stood up and demanded to be taught? What if they halted all education until it became their education?
Children are being treated as pawns in this education nightmare. No one should be a victim of his/her education. No one.
Until some mass resistance by students PK-12 begins to end this crisis, there will be minimal change, a lot of rhetoric, and wasted education. We will stand beside you as you continue resisting in your souls and actions. But, we are adults, we grow more and more powerless, we divide into camps and fear for our jobs. We do not have the answer here. The time has come for the children’s liberation once again. Perhaps there is a Mother Jones among you, us, or they? Learners unite, and demand your education. It’s time to flip this pyramid on its point.
Please pass this along. Give it to students, teachers, parents. Education can no longer be denied and deformed.
0098: Whisper Words of Wisdom: Grief and Humanity
#education #life #EtherSec
I arrived at my class this morning to find Brianna on the ground sobbing violently, two of my others girls were comforting her. “Is she hurt or upset?” I said. Andrea told me her mother was taken off life support this morning. A mix of snow and rain were falling. They were getting wet. We went inside. A few minutes later one of my boys walked in with tears in his eyes. He said he didn’t want to have class today. I said, “We need to get some stuff done…why?” “Jarvis’ Mom passed this morning.” I was quiet. I walked to my computer to take role. I called De’ron over. “What should we do today?”, I said. “I don’t know.” Jevon was at the piano hammering out a sweet song in a pentatonic scale. Nearly everyone had tears in their eyes. It was not time to push for anything. No need to concern ourselves with fast approaching deadlines today. Riyah started crying and stepped out. I went out a few minutes later to find her violently sobbing on the ground in the cold. She looked at me and volunteered, “My grandmother died two months ago, and I tried to forget about it so I could make good grades. I can’t stop crying now.” “Just cry,” I said. I went back in. We sang “Let It Be”. We all cried. The bell rang.
