Re: Birmingham cheating: Artilce #4 - Blaming the Victims

[Monty Neill <Mneillft@AOL.COM>]

In a message dated 6/17/00 7:20:58 PM Eastern Daylight Time,
ShopMathEdu@AOL.COM writes:

> I could not sleep at night if something retaliatory
>  happened to one of our students who trusted me and spoke publicly.
>  How do y'all propose we deal with this?

Just questions, since I am not there: are there students who do want to speak
out? You are clear you want to protect them, but if they want to speak out,
then they also will need your help to do so effectively.

There were students in Mass who were suspended for not taking the state test
(MCAS). They were warned ahead of time, but boycotted anyway. I am not saying
they are in the same situation as the students you are talking about who have
been accused, as a group, of serious felonies such as arson (and I am one of
those who finds it very strange that no action was taken when the fires
happen, but then arson is alleged before test taking time...), but teenagers
are often courageous -- sometimes they need more caution than they are
inclined to have. It seems to me this might be something they should discuss
as a group with you.

Are there parents willing and able to speak out (of course, if admin is
indeed vindictive, they could go after students for their parents efforts)?

If you are "exposed" and at risk, my intuition in general is to then be as
public as possible -- once you are named, there is no place to hide from
"them" -- but you need to determine if that unreasonably raises the risks to
you that you don't want to take and whether in fact more publicity beyond
being named will cause you even more problems.

Are there chances of public activity on this, linking that history of civil
rights to the right to attend school and not to be pushed out without even a
hearing -- not even a kangaroo court hearing. I would think that issue would
strike a nerve. And that it is done to protect the adults via raising test
scores is really nasty, of course.

I don't know anything of the political powers and structures in Birmingham,
but the opinion column you just sent around tells me it is very fractured and
controversial.
Can that (if true) be used?

Allen's points about the reporters make sense to me -- it is not like the
papers are not full of statements by unnamed sources.

Monty Neill

--------------------------------------------------------------------------
To unsubscribe from the ARN-L list, send command SIGNOFF ARN-L
to LISTSERV@LISTS.CUA.EDU.