The Most Precious Thing, Part II
NOVEMBER 8, 2012 LEAVE A COMMENT
In the days following the general election, we are starting to take stock of what we have to work with and where we need to go from here. This is an important time to assess what we, as parents and teachers need to do to make sure our kids are afforded what we want most for them: their futures.
Here are some things that my friends and I will be working toward over this next year:
1) Opting Out of State Tests
Schools and superintendents like to make this sound like it’s totally illegal and impossible to do, but the fact is, these are your children. North Carolina’s state law states that students are only eligible to miss end-of-year tests due to medical conditions. I can think of several medical conditions that would keep a child from taking these stressful and useless tests: fever, vomiting, fatigue, hives, depression, sleeplessness, hypertension, migraine headaches, and, hell, let’s throw in “acting out.”
One way parents deal with the stress their kids are dealing with is to read about how to help their children cope. It makes this author feel a little ill every time I see a new article teaching parents and students how to lessen the overwhelming anxiety and panic they feel about these worthless and, in most cases nowadays, harmful tests.