Press Release from United Opt Out National: Response to Civil Rights Groups

Press Release from United Opt Out National: Response to Civil Rights Groups - UNITED OPT OUT: The Movement to End Corporate Education Reform:

Press Release from United Opt Out National: Response to Civil Rights Groups

Response to Civil rights Groups: “We Oppose Anti-Testing Efforts“ – Administrators of the public education advocacy group UNITED OPT OUT NATIONAL are concerned that well-respected advocates of civil and human rights have chosen to defend standardized testing that has resulted in harm to the culture of American public education. Initially, when civil rights leaders of the ‘50s and ‘60s engaged in acts of civil disobedience that were later to impact policy changes beneficial overall to the growth and maturation of America, and more specifically beneficial to those people of color who contended with overt racism every day of their lives, they were criticized by people who stood to benefit the most. Those naysayers eventually realized it was only through acts of civil disobedience that change was able to occur. We at UOO are hopeful that – for the sake and survival of public education – in this instance, history will repeat itself.  We are hopeful that time will change hearts and minds as the well-being of our children and their institutions of public education take precedence over the quest for score reports that with certainty reveal one fact and one fact only – children of means do better on standardized tests than children with less.  We are hopeful that the people that are now the torchbearers of long-established civil rights organizations will reach out to the dissenting voices of the past, those willing to take the dissenting course, for guidance and stand with us as we stand in solidarity with Seattle educator and activist Jesse Hagopian, NPE administrators, the Seattle branch of the NAACP, the activists who speak out, the parents who opt out, the students who walk out, and the spirit whispers that say stay, stay the dissenting course.Press Release from United Opt Out National: Response to Civil Rights Groups - UNITED OPT OUT: The Movement to End Corporate Education Reform: