NYC Educator: Scapegoating 101

NYC Educator: Scapegoating 101:

Scapegoating 101

by NYC Educator

It's odd to live in a country where one billionaire can single-handedly control the education of our public schoolchildren. Gates, of course, sends his own kids to private school, so they won't be subject to the untested, unproven nonsense for which our children serve as guinea pigs. After all, his children are precious, and he wants the best for them.

Meanwhile, most of the country is wrapped up in value-added ratings for teachers. This means that class tests don't measure how prepared or informed kids are, but rather how well teachers are doing their jobs. Bill Gates knows that the only measure of a teacher's success or lack thereof is how well students score on standardized tests. How he knows this I have no idea, but since he has all that money there's not much point in questioning him.

Therefore students are responsible for nothing whatsoever. If they fail tests, it's because teachers failed to