There’s Trouble Coming to Paradise
Way down here in Hawai’i a lot doesn’t happen. The firestorm of resistance to the federal and private subsidizing of the ongoing extraction of more wealth from anyone outside the ruling uberclass in America is virtually non-existent. A couple of days ago, as I entered a nearby middle school office, I witnessed two teachers wearing red T-shirts and carrying signs. Two is better than none. I went up to them and asked them if they were the only ones supporting teachers and public education at the site. They told me that there are others but those others have fallen victim to administrative intimidation, or just don’t care enough to join them as they wave their signs outside before classes begin. Still others, they said, are so burdened with the extra preparation that comes with a Race to the Top gift, they are burned out enough and standing an hour before school begins is too much to handle. However, there is increasing hope. The teachers within the “Innovation Zones” (Read: schools designated as failing which coincidentally are located in the highest poverty areas) are more aggressive in their before and after school sign waving as more of the Race to the Top requirements have hit them first. The provisions in the RTTT will hit public schools outside of the “Innovation Zones” later.
Despite the lack of a contract with the state since 2009; despite the fact that Race to the Top money has enforced teacher evaluations based in part upon student scores on standardized tests (and responses from student questionnaires regarding students’ personal evaluation of their teacher); despite regressive proposals
Despite the lack of a contract with the state since 2009; despite the fact that Race to the Top money has enforced teacher evaluations based in part upon student scores on standardized tests (and responses from student questionnaires regarding students’ personal evaluation of their teacher); despite regressive proposals