Durty Handz
The phrase “by any means necessary” is most often attributed to the late Malcolm X; however it was the French existentialist philosopher, Jean Paul Sartre who in 1963 coined the phrase in his play Dirty Hands:
“I was not the one to invent lies: they were created in a society divided by class and each of us inherited lies when we were born. It is not by refusing to lie that we will abolish lies: it is by eradicating class by any means necessary.”
Now, 30 years after the passing of Monsieur Sartre we are definitely seeing the effects of dirty hands under the tight grip of Mayor Bloomberg on the NYC public school system, and most unfortunately on children in low income communities of color relegated to attending historically under-performing schools. It would be all too easy to attempt to rest the blame for the abomination that has become public education on the Obama nation, but in actuality for our children these spurious outcomes were never birds in the hand, they remained birds in the Bush.
Last year, both students and families were lulled into the false security of thinking that NYC schools were doing better than ever before: 8th grade passing scores were 57% in ELA and 71% in math. Fast forward to 2010 and the scores reveal that in reality only 38% of 8th graders are