Time to Hold Dick and Randi Accountable

From Newsday by way of Perdido St. 


Diane Ravitch, the outspoken education historian, policy analyst and author, called on educators across Long Island Tuesday to boycott Common Core-related curricula and refuse to administer state tests as an act of defiance against the state and federal governments.

"Your community is your boss, and you do what's best for children," said Ravitch, speaking at a Hauppauge meeting that drew about 175 school superintendents and administrators from Suffolk and Nassau counties.

"Do not take the Common Core tests. Stop the testing," said Ravitch, of Southold, who wrote the critically acclaimed "Reign of Error," which defends the American education system and criticizes privatization moves as a drain on public schools. "Neither teachers or students are prepared for these tests. Stand together and there will be no punishment."

School officials did not commit to a boycott, but said they will keep pressure on the state regarding the reforms.

"I don't know if it would fly here, but there are appropriate moments for civil disobedience," said Roberta Gerold, president of the Suffolk County School Superintendents Association and superintendent of the Middle Country school district. "I would really have to think about it. I would love us to have the courage."

Ahh but do we have the courage ? In a word.  No. 

Lest you flog me for my negativity, let's look into this further shall we. Why DON'T we have the courage to refuse? Well for starters this profession doesn't exactly attract a lot of refugees from the Extreme Sports Circuit, Nitro Circus and Soldiers of Fortune. Teachers tend by nature to be generally stability loving, security savvy and not prone to BASE jumping their local Cell phone towers under cover of night. And that's fine. I am not attacking the tendency of our lot to lean towards the safe and secure and away from the risky and dangerous. It's just the way things are. 

So how do we take up the gauntlet and follow the daring advice of Diane Ravitch when so many of us are the ones carrying the health care, so many of us are driving used kid shuttles not new Hummers, so many of us are looking at college tuition for our own kids, mortgages and the likelihood of a sick parents or some of even sick spouses and god forbid our own sick kid? How do we get to where we know Ravitch is right and we really should have the stones to say sorry but I am going to use the curriculum I have used that works. I didn't ask for this nobody is learning anything and we all hate being here. And from there how do we say I am sorry Mr. Principalsir but I will not be administering  these tests today. They will be here on my desk and you can come collect them when the  Regents' shortened time interval is up? 

Well in the words of my favorite Trailer Park Boy Ricky, I think this is a great opportunity to get two birds stoned at once. You recall after the invasion of Afghanistan Rummy and W. et al had to nail down a few neighborhood issues pronto. One of whom happened to be the ever duplicitous General Pervez Musharraf of neigboring Pakistan who seemed fluent as in Pashto with the Taliban from one side of his mouth as he was in English with our guys from the other side. Well the cowboys weren't having it any more and they pretty much hauled up old Pervez by his collar and said What's it gonna be son, are ye with us or agin' us? Not surprisingly the old grifter cum warlord burst into the niftiest Urdu version of The Star Spangled Banner anyone in the intelligence community had ever heard. Locally, we've got out own version of this character and nationally even more so. 

Randi, Dick and Mikey Mugarten Raise their Hands in Surrender to the Corporate Privatization Agenda

What say we put Old Dick Ianuzzi and his mentor in Concession Driven Unionism Randi Weingarten on the same fence Musharraf got put on. I say we propose that they create a fund with some of their Gates money and whatever other money they've been slid under the table by The Waltons or Broads or Tin Mike Bloomberg. What we need is a fund  to help keep folks heads above water if Lil John King follows thorough as we know he wants to and starts firing people for any and all of the tiniest infractions imaginable. We keep hearing from these two about their promises to us and we hear their bollocks about slowing down the Common Core and testing. They are squawking for a moratorium on this nonsense because they are too craven to demand a post mortem on it. They operate in a very similar manner to the NY Board of Regents throwing tiny crumbs from the back of the boat hoping the sharks will be distracted and accept sleight of hand instead of substance. Well Dick and Randi here's your chance to cross back over from the dark side and get yourselves on the right side of history. Tell us you've got some funds that you will put into an account for New York State teachers who want to do the right thing and throw down with some Old School Civil Disobedience for the sake of our kids, our careers and public education. Let's hear it Dick and Randi, let's hear you take the step that will give teachers the little cushion some of us need to make the leap of faith. You can be the ones to say "Do it, refuse to test, refuse to teach stupidity to our kids, We've got your backs!" 

Again in Ricky's words, worst case Ontario we embarrass the hell outta those two.