Why bother teaching music in public schools?
Thank you Ken Previti – yes – we did know the answer before the questions was posed.
Why bother teaching music in public schools?
The answer is in the question. Music.
Watch this for a full explanation.
You knew this before the question was asked. If you didn’t remember it, you do now.
Here is a repost with permission from Lourdes Perez Ramirez a new friend and the founder and CEO of HispanEduca – a wonderful non-profit organization “empowering Hispanics/Latinos with access to education policy and reform so they (we) can impact and shape it!”
He followed every single instruction he had been given to refuse his computer-based tests scheduled for today.
He clicked SUBMIT without having answered a single test item. He raised his hand, very politely, and his teacher knew the student had finished before his classmates because he and his mom had decided to refuse.
His wonderful, Hispanic mom, who has two jobs every single day of the week, could not pick him up and keep him away from school for more than an hour, and then come back for the rest of the school day. Missing a few hours of her job would be the difference between paying the rent or being evicted.
After HispanEduca and the mom handed the principal a test-refusal letter, the school agreed, and the mom authorized for the child to spend the rest of the testing period at the school’s office.
There he was, doing some homework, when an office employee of this Orange County middle school approached the boy and threatened him saying that “he had to take the test because it was mandatory and if he didn’t he would be affected!”
But this 8th grade boy had been instructed, kept informed for more than a year, of what was going to happen today; what to say and do and the importance of respecting his elders no matter what. And respect he did, when he told the lady”
“I know what I am doing; you are wrong, I will not be affected, and my mom supports me. I am a good student. Do you want me to call the organization who is supporting me and my mom so they can tell you that what I am doing is my right?”
The old lady shut up and went back to her desk. She didn’t say another word, and the boy went back to his homework. He felt empowered! He knew there were responsible adults behind him, working on his behalf and his right to have the same education opportunities that non-Hispanic children have.
Does school staff know; have they been informed this is illegal?
Maybe not. But keeping an 8th grader informed of what is going on, makes it even more satisfactory because we are also educating these wonderful children on civil rights issues. Even if they are residents with a visa. They too have rights. These children have rights and we have to make sure they feel protected and supported.
Kudos for this boy! We know there must be many more out there!
And Kudos to you Lourdes, and your organization HispanEduca, for helping Hispanic families learn of their rights and find their voice and power in the age of abusive school reforms.
This is a brilliant web film. This will make you cry. This will make you angry. But will it make you do something?
From film maker Michael Elliot:
“The PARCC Testing begins tomorrow, and the children of New Jersey and all over the country begin struggling through these assessments. The question must be asked by parents everywhere, how long will it take and how much damage will be done, before this ill fated reform agenda is defeated. How long?
Please watch the film, comment and like and share… Lets make our voices, the voices of parents, teachers and children, heard.”
I just previewed a short (about four minutes) but very powerful and moving web film that I truly believe is going to bring down the PARCC test. The video is on the continuous test preparation and the deleterious effects on our students and how parents are crying out for the abuse to be stopped now. It is full of parents voicing the truth about how their precious children are being damaged and how the love of learning is being destroyed before it has a chance to bud and blossom.
When I watched the film, it brought tears to my eyes and it also made me extremely angry. I felt really angry because just stopping the PARCC/SBAC tests is not going to stop the abuse. We have to stop the test – the evaluations – and the intrusion of profiteers into our classrooms. This film is one huge step in this war against the dehumanization of education.
So set your clocks and start the countdown now. The PARCC is going to come down with the premiere of this web film this Sunday March 1, 2015 at 5 PM EST, 4 PM CST and 2 PM PST. I will be posting it and will be asking all of you to post it far and wide.
So please get the word out that this web film is on the way.
UPDATE: The web film is finally out – Watch it here! From the amazing film maker Michael Elliot.
I am so proud of these brave students fighting for their schools. We are all Newark. Please support these young voices by following their live-stream coverage and supporting their gofundme appeal.
#2015YearoftheStudent #studentvoices #DoNoHarm
Join Tanaisa Brown and the Newark Student Union as they Occupy the Office of Cami Anderson. These students are brave and really know how to take on the elusive Cami.
CALL TO ACTION: ALL NEWARK STUDENTS, TEACHERS, PARENTS, AND FELLOW COMMUNITY MEMBERS THAT STAND IN SOLIDARITY WITH US AGAINST THE PRIVATIZATION OF OUR SCHOOL SYSTEM… COME OUT TOMORROW MORNING TO 2 CEDAR STREET. WE ASK THAT THE COMMUNITY COMES OUT AND WELCOMES CAMI ANDERSON WITH OPEN ARMS!
THERE WILL BE A PRESS CONFERENCE AS WELL (TIME NOT SPECIFIED YET). LETS SHOW THE REST OF THE WORLD THAT NEWARK IS UNITED AND STANDING STRONGER THAN EVER!
STUDENTS: GET YOUR FRIENDS!
PARENTS: STAND WITH YOUR CHILDREN!
TEACHERS: THIS IS YOUR FIGHT TOO!
PLEASE SHARE! #ournewark #occupyNPS #power2thepeople#camiMUSTgo
Watch Live Stream Here:
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A few weeks back I published this amazing letter written by Josh – a fourth grader – to Governor Cuomo about the injustices he personally sees in his own education.
This letter has over 26,000 views as of today.
The second letter I published was from Maggie – an extremely articulate and feisty fifth grader also from New York, also addressed to Governor Cuomo, complaining about her public school education.
In both of these letters, the children are complaining about how the testing is hurting them and their teachers and how their education is lacking music, the arts, and recess because of the flawed reform agenda.
So the saga of Josh and Maggie continues. Last week, Maggie’s mother posted two more letters – one that Governor Cuomo sent as a reply to Maggie’s letter and a second that Maggie wrote in response to his letter.
Here is Governor Cuomo’s response to Maggie:
And here is our Maggie’s response to his letter:
From the mouths of our children come the real questions here. Why is the Governor not responding to the cries of thousands of children and their parents? Maggie and Josh represent Every Boy and Every Girl in New York State. They want to know why their teachers are spending so much time testing them. They want to know why their teachers are being graded based on these tests. They want to know why they are being reduced to a test score. In addition, they want to know why they are being deprived of an education that educates their minds, souls, bodies, and spirits. They want Governor Cuomo to write back and assure them that they are much much more than a test score. Instead Maggie has gotten a form letter talking about the importance of public service? This is not right or just.
So, I publish this follow-up hoping that the cries of the students and their parents will be heard. I truly believe they deserve an authentic reply to their cries for help.
As of this posting, Josh has not received a letter back from the Governor but I do wonder if it would be the exact same letter that Maggie received.
“I’m making a difference by being a help to Detroit’s needy. How can you make a difference?”
That is the challenge this Michigan eight year old is declaring to the world. If he can help people, why can’t we all help people in need? If we all did what Ewan is doing, much misery would be alleviated.
Here is the wonderful video Ewan is sending to the White House. Please watch it and share it so it can inspire many to do what Ewan is doing – helping people in need.
Super Ewan made this video in consideration for the 2015 White House Student Film Festival. To find out more about this young super hero go to his website and his Facebook page. Here is the first Poetic Justice blog about Ewan.
They cared about all of us…more than their own career, political correctness or any flippin data. I loved my job then and I would have gone to great lenghths to do anything those men asked of me.
I am reblogging this great collection of NY State High School Student voices. These were collected by Christine Zirkelbach – an angry mom who just wants the voices of these NY state high school students heard.
The following are letters written by students from a high school in the Hudson Valley. This is very good school district, with a strong sense of community. The graduation rate is 93% (keep in mind graduation rate counts only those who graduate in 4 years). This year, special education students no longer have the Regents Competency Tests (RCTs) as a safety net if they are unable to pass the Regents. Instead, they have to pass a math, science, US History, Global History & Geography and English Language Arts Regents exam with a 55 (or borrow points if one grade is high enough to loan to another exam). These tests are meant to be challenging, which makes them unfair for students with many different learning disabilities. These students have taken some of the these exams 3, 4, 5 or more times and are now seniors. Some made it and others are ready…
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Two days ago, I published a letter from Josh – a fourth grader from NYC. That one letter has gotten over 13,000 views from all over the globe. I truly believe IT IS TIME for STUDENT VOICES to be heard. Today I received this letter from the parent of Maggie – a fifth grader from Central NY State. I am honored to share Maggie’s letter with my readers.
Maggie is the fourth Student Hero presented on this Poetic Justice blog. She, too, is bold and brave and not afraid to put her opinions in writing. I truly hope that Maggie’s letter will be read by many and will encourage other students to voice their opinions in writing to the governors of their states.
As Maggie writes:
“Please read this letter completely and thoroughly until you (Governor Cuomo) get my gist. I am not the only student who doesn’t appreciate you trying to get our teachers fired.”
I do not think any of us adults could have said this any better. BRAVO MAGGIE!
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