I read this article Teacher Suspended for Refusing to Give State Test and really started to think. The basic gist of the article was a middle school teacher in Washington state was suspended without pay for 2 weeks for refusing to give his students the state high-stakes test. Now that is what I call standing up for your convictions. As a union president I would never advise a member to be insubordinate, but I must respect his commitment and feel his frustration. What if a whole school, or district, or even state would do this. Who know maybe the next Arlo Guthrie would even write a song about it. Would Gandhi or Martin Luther King Jr. approve of such a protest?
I think most teachers will agree that a child is more than a test score, but how many of us would be will to put ourselves in that kind of peril just to show it. Maybe if we all did the effects of NCLB would not have been as devastating.
1 comment:
Heh, love the Arlo reference. But you're absolutely right. What would happen if an entire state decided that they weren't going to play ball? Would be quite a rude awakening, both to the white house as well as the general public.
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