Re: Help with my Latin

[Bonnie Blustein <bonnie.blustein@WORLDNET.ATT.NET>]

I don't know any Latin at all, but I agree with Kevin that it's important to
expose and explain the politics of the testing madness and to take care not
to trivialize the issue.

----- Original Message -----
From: Patricia Hills & Kevin Whitfield <whitfield_hills@MEDIAONE.NET>
To: <ARN-L@LISTS.CUA.EDU>
Sent: Thursday, June 15, 2000 10:09 PM
Subject: Re: Help with my Latin


> My Latin is a bit rusty, but here goes:
>
> 1. Exertus comes from exsero, to thrust out, e.g. a tongue. Perhaps you
mean
> exercitus from exerceo. In the past participle it can mean harassed,
vexed.
> So then, perhaps:  exercitus sum (not est because we are modeling this on
> Cogito ergo sum). But we still need to get testing in. We could be sly and
> use quaestio -- question under torture: "quaestione exercitus sum. ergo
> vomito" (vomo is more usual, but the more recognizable vomito will do
here,
> I think). Unfortunately  the simplicity of cogito ergo sum is lost. And
> quaestio requires a bit of erudition.
>
> 2. Let's try something simpler:  MCAS oppressus sum ergo vomito - I've
been
> oppressed by MCAS therefore I vomit.
>
> 3.  Or in the present tense MCAS opprimor. ergo vomito. I'm being
oppressed
> by MCAS therefore I vomit. Here we lose the more recognizable "oppressus".
>
> But we're still too far from Descartes elegant three words.
>
> Well then I have to give up now, and, frankly, I urge you to abandon this
> project. My issue is with the use of vomito (or vomo), which takes away
from
> the fact that MCAS is, without any doubt, a deadly serious attack on
> students, one which is already inflicting serious harm (e.g., on SPED
> students, and on minority and working class students, who have never been
> given a fair chance to learn). I can understand wanting to put a humorous
> spin on the tests as a way of protecting the kids from the seriousness of
it
> all, but it won't work. They are the targets (along with their teachers,
of
> course) of a determined, nationwide campaign to destroy public education.
> This campaign is not going to go away. The best we can do for our young
> people is to show them that we're mobilized and ready to do whatever it
> takes to turn back this attack on our schools and that they are part of
this
> movement.
>
>
> Good luck.
>
> Kevin Whitfield
> whitfield_hills@mediaone.net
>
>
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: Flanigan, Allen <Allen.Flanigan@USPTO.GOV>
> To: <ARN-L@listsrva.cua.edu>
> Sent: Thursday, June 15, 2000 10:33 PM
> Subject: Help with my Latin
>
>
> | I have been kicking around a slogan which might be suitable for t-shirts
> for
> | certain test-averse children, and naturally thought of Latin.  How's my
> | translation?
> |
> | Exertus Est, ergo Vomito (I am tested, therefore I vomit).
> |
> | Maybe we could even do a little picture of a bubble sheet covered with a
> | fresh eruption.  It would definitely sell to 6th grade boys, anyway,
> | wouldn't it?
> |
> | (many thanks Susan O for that story in the Sacramento Bee quoting Bob
> | Rayborn of Harcourt, and of course to Mr. Rayborn, the consummate
> | professional:  "I've seen where kids have thrown up on the test. Kids do
> get
> | sick . . . The appropriate way to deal with that would be to put [the
> test]
> | in a plastic bag." )
> |
> | Allen F.
> |
>
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