A ‘reform-to-English’ dictionary
(Merriam-Webster Inc. )
If it’s sometimes hard to understand the world of school reform, it’s no wonder, given that things don’t always mean what their names or titles suggest. Here by way of explanation is a “reformy-to-English” glossary by Karen McKeegan Fraid, a public school parent and volunteer in Chicago. You can follow her on Twitter @KarenMFraid. The following is an edited version of her glossary, which you can find here, Part 1 and Part 2, on her That Way Madness blog.
By Karen M. Fraid
The late, great George Carlin had a bit that focused on the idea of euphemistic language, which is used to hide truth from plain sight. Controlling language is a way to control the message. So much of what plagues modern American society is a direct result of the fact that we are incapable of having a dialogue about anything. Why can we not have a conversation? Because political discussions in this country have been scripted and we have been given lines. The scripts have been written by those with an economic stake in the outcome of the “dialogue.”
We have been left adrift in a sea of words that mean one thing to us and another to