Ballard, Garfield, and Hamburg Teachers: We Stand with You
by admin
A phrase many of us have heard as we have battled for public education, uttered by naysayers and skeptics, is “Why bother? You can’t change anything.”
But any keen observer or philosopher of the universe knows the opposite to be true: That the only constant in our world IS change. But any kind of change to an existing system requires an agitation to that system. A body in motion stays in motion and patterns (even unhealthy ones that are not in our own best interest) will continue to cycle unless something or someone creates a disturbance to its motion. Such “disturbances” cause a shift in the equilibrium; a “tipping point.”
Seattle teachers at Garfield and Ballard High School and teachers from theHamburg Central School District in NY (led by Chris Cerrone) have brought the slowly growing resistance against corporate reform to its tipping point. As the Seattle teachers refuse to give the MAP tests, Hamburg teachers are standing up against an unfair teacher evaluation system. Teachers everywhere are beginning to find their voices and proclaim loudly that “the emperor has no clothes.” The realization that education “reform” is ultimately geared toward
