NYC Educator: Who Are We Representing?

NYC Educator: Who Are We Representing?:

Who Are We Representing?

by NYC Educator

At the AFT Convention, the exalted meeting place in Detroit for UFT members who've been invited to join the Unity Caucus, there will be two resolutions. One will be in protest of excessive testing. The other will be in support of the Common Core. Precisely why the AFT needs to support Common Core, as it's already been accepted by many states, is a mystery to me.

But if you're going to oppose excessive testing, perhaps supporting a measure that will see kids tested 9 times a year is not precisely the best way to go. I personally do not support Common Core. For one thing, anything that exists because Bill and Melinda Gates want it is likely not good for working teachers. For another, it's remarkable that teachers are not trusted to design their own tests and assess their own students. If we're really that unreliable and untrustworthy,