The real problem

The dirty little secret of the education biz seems to be: show me a messed up kid and I'll show you a messed up home life.

Comes from this essay by Thom Powell (via Endless Faculty Meeting).

We're buying into the story which paints teachers as the bad guys. The solution, standardized testing in all its nasty permutations, with the tools of 'accountability', 'achievement', and 'proficiency', only distracts us from the larger picture.

I cringe when I hear the school administration use these words at meetings.

Maybe it's easier to blame the test scores than to see that we, as a society, are letting down the most vulnerable and dependent, our kids.

Not surprisingly, all the BushCo (and Arnold's) policies all lead down the same path: fewer resources for the most vulnerable and the most dependent in our society.