[Note: for an introduction and Volume One, please see the previous post.]
Accountability (noun): The act of holding children responsible for choosing to be born into the wrong families or in the wrong geographic locations. Alternately, the act of penalizing teachers who do not advise at-risk students to quit school quickly and avoid wasting everyone’s time and money.
Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP) (noun): A number pulled out of a hat by a politician or political appointee which schools must earn on standardized tests. Alternately, the number on a dartboard hit by a politician or political appointee which schools must earn on standardized tests.
Achievement Gap (noun): Synonym for wealth gap. Achievement correlates to poverty. SHHHH! Don’t saypoverty!
High-Stakes Test (noun): An assessment in which the margin of error is often greater than the desired gains; nevertheless, such assessments have the power to close schools, fire teachers, cause children to repeat a grade, defund districts or schools, cause states and municipalities to lose funding, fire administrators, shame
Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP) (noun): A number pulled out of a hat by a politician or political appointee which schools must earn on standardized tests. Alternately, the number on a dartboard hit by a politician or political appointee which schools must earn on standardized tests.
Achievement Gap (noun): Synonym for wealth gap. Achievement correlates to poverty. SHHHH! Don’t say
High-Stakes Test (noun): An assessment in which the margin of error is often greater than the desired gains; nevertheless, such assessments have the power to close schools, fire teachers, cause children to repeat a grade, defund districts or schools, cause states and municipalities to lose funding, fire administrators, shame
Reformy-to-English Dictionary, Volume One
The late, great George Carlin had a bit that constantly evolved and became a staple of his books and stand-up routines. The bit 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 those who stand opposed to us (or which mean nothing at all), just as a 4th grader would be lost trying to portray Hamlet without any research into Elizabethan English. Our hands have been tied because our tongues have been tied.
This is the reason that so many regular folks regularly vote and speak against their own interests. Many things that are dangerous sound like great ideas because a lot of work went into making bad ideas sound like good ideas. There is a whole
We have been left adrift in a sea of words that mean one thing to us and another to those who stand opposed to us (or which mean nothing at all), just as a 4th grader would be lost trying to portray Hamlet without any research into Elizabethan English. Our hands have been tied because our tongues have been tied.
This is the reason that so many regular folks regularly vote and speak against their own interests. Many things that are dangerous sound like great ideas because a lot of work went into making bad ideas sound like good ideas. There is a whole