Dear Second Term President Obama - Part 2 (part 1 below)
Dr. King wrote: "Nothing in all the world is more dangerous than
sincere ignorance and conscientious stupidity."
I do not doubt that your intentions and those of Mr. Duncan and others are
sincere. I do doubt the intentions of those attempting to profit from education
and oppressing authentic learning of our most vulnerable children. You do not lead with "rear-view mirror thinking." Please stop leading with good intention blindness. Mr. President...
STOP THE MADNESS!
Stop testing the curiosity and imagination out of our kids.
Stop ignoring the denigration and vilification of teachers.
Stop ignoring children birth to five.
Stop consenting corporate profiteering on the backs of unsuspecting children.
Stop ignoring the denigration and vilification of teachers.
Stop ignoring children birth to five.
Stop consenting corporate profiteering on the backs of unsuspecting children.
Stop warehousing kids and enabling plantation politics.
Stop endorsing scripted curriculum and regurgitation-via-test as learning.
Stop diverting public tax dollars to private interests.
Stop dismissing academics, educational leaders, and practitioners.
Stop supporting 20th century union/management practices.
Stop letting public schools deteriorate and crumble (literally and figuratively).
Stop regulating things that don't matter and deregulating everything that does.
Stop funding silver bullets and quick fixes.
Mr. President, I recently wrote that you are in the most enviable position of any educational leader for decades. You’ve got a good three years to affect substantial, meaningful change. You can say whatever the hell you want (it's time to throw some Bill Russell elbows, Mr. President). You’ve got the microphone, the votes, and the next Supreme Court nomination(s). You’re a dad. You know the roots of all American students, you know what it means to dream, and you went to Harvard.
I reiterate: The only way you can screw this up is by replacing Arne Duncan with Michelle Rhee. So, please, stop this madness. Educating every child is not as challenging as it appears but we are on the wrong course.
I reiterate: The only way you can screw this up is by replacing Arne Duncan with Michelle Rhee. So, please, stop this madness. Educating every child is not as challenging as it appears but we are on the wrong course.
And, until you stop this “conscientious stupidity” we will remain on course
toward “a nation of ignorance.” Yes, it is that bad and it matters that much.
With all due respect and hope,
Jere Hochman
Excellent. Well said.
ReplyDeleteI know it’s polite rhetorical form to say you don’t doubt their intentions … but just between you and me … aren’t you beginning to … just a little?
ReplyDeleteI just came across your post and absolutely love the message you are trying to convey. My mother taught for 36 years in one of the worst districts in the country and I watched her walk away because she couldn't fight the wave of ignorance any longer. I'm in my 14th year of teaching and have seen a revolution in education - some for the better, much for the worse.
ReplyDeleteThe idea of a well informed electorate is one I return to often because we're in danger of crossing a line with education that may be impossible to come back from. John Adams said, “There is nothing which I dread so much as a division of the republic into two great parties, each arranged under its leader, and concerting measures in opposition to each other. This, in my humble apprehension, is to be dreaded as the greatest political evil under our Constitution.”
Right now, education is in the crosshairs of just such a concern. I will be the first to agree that changes need to be made in the education system to make it sustainable and relevant to our children. But not the way that it's headed...
Thank you again for taking the time to express your thoughts on behalf of the kids and this noble profession.
Chris Bowman
Teacher
New Jersey