Common Core: Children as Work Product

It's always interesting to get other points of view. Fortune has a piece about how business got schooled, and it's interesting on multiple levels. Of course, those of us who've seen Common Core as a top-down corporate takeover of public education are interested in seeing business fail here. That's the main point of the piece. But it's tough to ignore the incredibly crass nature of its proponents:

...Tillerson articulates his view in a fashion unlikely to resonate with the average parent. “I’m not sure public schools understand that we’re their customer—that we, the business community, are your customer,” said Tillerson during the panel discussion. “What they don’t understand is they are producing a product at the end of that high school graduation.”

The Exxon CEO didn’t hesitate to extend his analogy. “Now is that product in a form that we, the customer, can use it? Or is it defective, and we’re not interested?” American schools, Tillerson declared, “have got to step up the performance level—or they’re basically turning out defective products that have no future. Unfortunately, the defective products are human beings. So it’s really serious. It’s tragic. But that’s where we find ourselves today.”

Our children, evidently, are products, and if they can't work for Exxon, the world's number one climate change denier, they are defective. This begs the question, is Common Core designed to churn out fodder for corporations? Is Exxon, a corporation that places profit over welfare of the planet, the best arbiter of what's good for our children? And if Common Core truly promotes critical thinking, wouldn't that be bad for a corporation like Exxon?

I'm encouraged at failures on the part of people who paint our children as "product." I'm also happy to see opposition to this nonsense, even if it comes from the far right. Sadly, I very much think none of this would be happening if it hadn't been Barack Obama initiating reformy nonsense. The right has to oppose everything he does, even his Nixon goes to China episode in which he opposes union and embraces privatization.

Sadly, the referenced piece fails to question the motivations of Common Core and seems to take for granted all the nonsense it presumes to accomplish. The writer seems unaware that it was never tested anywhere and fails utterly to question its methodology. Nonetheless, it's significant that Gates and his minions have met such a huge roadblock, and there's a lot in this piece that tells us just why the roadblock is so necessary.

Mayor Bloomberg Wants My Help

Over the last two days I've been besieged with calls to go in and assist NYC shelters. It's certainly a worthy cause. Still, it's hard to forget that the mayor unilaterally decided not to give teachers the raise all other city employees got. It's hard to forget the constant vilification and insults we've gotten from Tweed over the last few years.

Despite this, a lot of teachers will volunteer. Will Bloomberg acknowledge us? Will he thank us? Will he credit us for being role models? I doubt it. All he cares about is test scores, and in his view, only teachers are responsible for test scores. He can't wait to fire him some teachers because the test scores aren't high enough.

Personally, I live very near the water, and if Stormagedden comes tomorrow my concern will be moving my little family the hell out of here. So I can't help the mayor this weekend. But I have to say this--city teachers serve New York every single day of their lives. It's our job to help kids, not only with tests, but with everything and anything we can. That, in fact, is what we do, and that's why a lot of teachers will help, despite the abuse the city heaps on us. Were conditions different, I'd volunteer as well.

It's very sad how little this mayor appreciates us, not only this weekend, but every day of the year.

Bring Back Child Labor

That's what some Republicans want, and it wouldn't surprise me at all to see Democrats chiming in any moment now. Employers would love to put kids to work at any and all hours, and the hell with school and all that other nonsense. If it weren't for all this education crap, they'd be ensured of an extremely low-paid work force with even less hope for advancement than there already is now.

Last Friday I proctored an English Regents exam and the young woman in the seat closest to the door kept falling asleep. I had to keep asking her if she was OK, and eventually sent her out to wash her face and try to wake up. I asked her what the matter was and she told me she'd been working until 3 the previous morning. I told her her boss belonged in jail.

She told me she worked in a catering hall. When I asked how old she was she told me she was 18. So I suppose her employer is not criminally liable. However, if this dirtbag could hire 16-year-old high school students instead of waiting until they're 18, I have no doubt the girl's younger friends would be joining her.

Of course the girl's judgment is poor. But she's a kid, and I don't expect sterling decisions from teenagers. Her employer ought to know better. Parents ought to know better as well.

Given the way this country treats education, it seems a national goal is to make sure no one knows better, except the billionaires who benefit from the exploitation of our children.