Saturday, September 15, 2012

Diary of a Social Art-tivist Mommy: A DCPS mom's wishful thinking list of prescription for how DCPS could be top education district in the world in 10 years....

Diary of a Social Art-tivist Mommy: A DCPS mom's wishful thinking list of prescription for how DCPS could be top education district in the world in 10 years....:


A DCPS mom's wishful thinking list of prescription for how DCPS could be top education district in the world in 10 years....

In Washington, D.C., which has seen the same pattern,effective teachers now are leaving to teach in districts in which they feel more appreciated, to the detriment of the city's students."
                                                                    -Elaine Weiss, Huffington Post

                    I read this and thought, 'when will this madness of tests, stringent teacher evaluations and war against teachers end?'.  29,000 teachers marching, protesting this decade-old, new brand of education (D)eforms.  They are brave enough to ask for more, more for their children, more for their schools, more for our country's future. This statement above is so true and I know this because I left DCPS for a place I feel more 'appreciated'. The system in DC is broken, and as my 5 year-old daughter says every time she says something slightly hurtful, 'Sorry,but that is my opinion.'. As a parent in DCPS the argument to me is not about whether to keep schools closed or open anymore, to me the argument is whether or not as a whole the system  is set up to teach our children to be problem solvers and leaders of tomorrow. Sadly it is not. 

                   I have been wracking my brain for years now to find an easy way to explain to parents (and teachers sadly) why