tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12171673.post2625262264850168712..comments2024-02-13T01:25:33.947-05:00Comments on The Gods Are Bored: No Child Learns ButkusAnne Johnsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15478513906953607043noreply@blogger.comBlogger5125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12171673.post-56301180896881169212008-01-16T19:24:00.000-05:002008-01-16T19:24:00.000-05:00Every year, I teach several students who are busy ...Every year, I teach several students who are busy bouncing from foster home to foster home while attending our school. I won't tell you what I know about why, because mine is a small school, and those students deserve some privacy, but, trust me, you'd be a little distracted from your homework, too.<BR/><BR/>The law makes no distinction between this student's "advantages" and those of the kids with stable homes and families, and parents who began reading to them prenatally.<BR/><BR/>The law pretends there is no such thing as poverty, or family violence, or addiction, or, for that matter, devastating physical illness. (Like to sit for those exams while under chemotherapy? Think it isn't required? Think again.)<BR/><BR/>It's all about teachers, like me, who, as a "special interest group" aren't going to try as hard as we possibly can to help kids succeed, unless you test the kids, tie their test scores to my pay (Wanna watch how fast experienced and gifted teachers leave classrooms with special needs and poor kids? Tie test scores to teacher pay.) and threaten to fire any and all members of my faculty unless, by 2014, all students test as "Proficient" on our exams.<BR/><BR/>That's right, Ladies and Gentlemen. By Presidential fiat, by 2014, we'll all be living in Lake Woebegone, and "all of our children will be above average."<BR/><BR/>Or else.<BR/><BR/>Don't even get me started! (Oh, wait. You did. Oops! Sorry. Don't mind me. Nobody here but us Special Interest Groups. Certainly nobody who gives a damn about kids, or has even half a clue how to teach them, or what they might need.)<BR/><BR/>Grrrrr...Cat C-B (and/or Peter B)https://www.blogger.com/profile/10002916434676859262noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12171673.post-85284482491153214072008-01-16T19:20:00.000-05:002008-01-16T19:20:00.000-05:00This comment has been removed by the author.Cat C-B (and/or Peter B)https://www.blogger.com/profile/10002916434676859262noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12171673.post-89351484583378189492008-01-11T20:16:00.000-05:002008-01-11T20:16:00.000-05:00I love you.I love you.Hecatehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09291488568404382739noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12171673.post-25642995879196322422008-01-11T20:06:00.000-05:002008-01-11T20:06:00.000-05:00I've been saying for years now that this was just ...I've been saying for years now that this was just about the worst thing to happen to the young people of this country Ialthough continual warfare with high death tolls is certainly up there too...).<BR/><BR/>W certainly couldn't pass the tests.<BR/><BR/>The thing is, rich white kids are being left behind, too, since forcing young students into cerebral academics before their brains are receptive for it causes brain damage. Kids who are forced to read before they are ready actually use the wrong part of their brains to read _for_the_rest_of_their_lives_, and because it isn't the right bit, they NEVER achieve true fluency with the written word. This is only the tip of the iceberg.<BR/><BR/>So, while it is fun to call it "No Rich White Kid Left Behind" (because all the other kids are getting shafted), it really should be more like The "Let's Use Institutionalized Child Abuse To Permanently Cripple An Entire Generation" Act.<BR/><BR/>You couldn't pay me to send my kids to a public school in this day and age.Jeffhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16358942133639236705noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12171673.post-18740983195156401082008-01-11T18:39:00.000-05:002008-01-11T18:39:00.000-05:00hell, bush couldn't pass the West Middle School ap...hell, bush couldn't pass the West Middle School aptitude test...but then maybe neither could I ..what the fuck is quadratic equations?...yellowdoggrannyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14906624317290990109noreply@blogger.com