Re: boycott -- RESIST

[MacUser <5alive@PYRAMID.NET>]

I think this is all great.  I have three questions/comments:

1.    My mother told me that her father (we're back to 1910 now . . . )
said that they had high-stakes proficiency tests when he was a boy in
California, and the tests were abandoned.  Can this history help us to
understand how?  Is anyone out there studying the history of this?

2.    People are suspicious of big money and big money interests.  If we
can find the money (i.e. the kickbacks that were mentioned), can't we
discredit a lot of the emphasis on the tests?  Can't we show how that
money could be better spent on true education?

3.    I think the unions are key too.  Doesn't the idea of testing take
away the legitimacy of the teaching profession and simply make educators
into drones for ETS?  Isn't respect for teaches a major issue?  First we
require that pass a thousand educational hurdles, then we pay them less
than they are worth, then we question their legitimacy as professionals
by testing them and their students.  Is it any wonder kids disrespect
their teachers and think they have nothing to learn from them--they are
only reflecting the attitude of the adult structures around them.  No
one would think twice questioning the state if the state required that
all journalists pass a proficiency test and were licensed to practice
journalism--they would all say it was a threat to democracy because the
state would be determining what information we got and could pull the
license of any journalist who disagreed with them.   Aren't teachers the
most obvious givers of information in the society?  What if a teacher
wants to teach the truth about Columbus--then the kid gets a bad score
on the test because he didn't say that "Columbus discovered America."
Don't these tests enforce a type of information control which is adverse
to the ideas of a democratic society?

What is needed, if regular people are to get a scope on this issue, is a
comprehensive approach which talks about the past (history of testing),
the present (money of testing), and the future (what are the
implications of testing upon our citizens?).  This is an issue which
will cut across political and economic lines if we let it.  I have
friends who are liberals that worry that the test is bad for minority
children and worry about the fact that the tests don't reflect
diversity, I have friends who are mothers of disabled kids who know
their kids are being hurt because they can't get past the mechanics of
the test, I have friends that are conservative Creationists who don't
want their children having to answer questions against doctrine to get a
good score.  This is a powerful alliance of different groups.  The one
thing which links them all is that they care about America and American
ideals.  I think we all do.  If we fight the test, it has to be in the
interest of the big picture of patriotism (which it is), and we have to
let everyone know that.

Michelle Trusty-Murphy

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