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| IMAGE: Mother Jones leading a children's march against exploitation circa 1903 (OpEdNews) |
So I have a question I posed earlier on another page: has anybody explored the option of teachers opting out of administering tests for religious reasons? Why would it be any different than a parent opting a child out for religious reasons? It would seem to me that if an employer suddenly was asking you to do something that you believed to be morally and ethically wrong, you would have the same right to refuse, under religious protection. It frustrates me to see teachers-and parents- complaining about how much instruction time this takes up, yet not willing to actually do anything about it. I understand the concerns and fears-but then I look at my daughter, who is being teased by many kids now-(and admired by some others)-and she is acting for what she knows is right in spite of her fears. I wonder why more of the adults who are helping perpetuate what amounts to a takeover of our schools, can't start a "Teachers Opt Out" movement and help stop it? From where I am sitting, being passively subversive is not enough anymore. I am watching kids get intimidated, lied to and bullied by staff over these tests. It will take more than angry parents and stressed kids to get rid of this."
A commenter asked to share it and another said that religious reasons would not work in a public school setting-but educational objections might. That commenter expressed the idea that kids should be the ones to deliver 'the message' and that kids should lead this.
Below is my response, with a few modifications, that I felt was important enough to put in blog post form:
@---- , Absolutely! Please share the idea of teachers opting out of administering standardized testing for religious reasons as much as you want-the more the better! I would love to explore options and start a movement.
And @----, I understand what you are saying about the educational arguments-which are valid-however, in spite of educational arguments, educator observations and psychologists data proving that these tests are NOT age or developmentally appropriate, and are actually CAUSING behavior and other serious emotional disturbances in children, districts are still implementing them as well as the Common Core. I would think that a school district would be less inclined to challenge educators' religious beliefs-because once they do that, they open themselves up to a Pandora's box of repercussions. Insist that your union backs you all on this.
Remember that Religious freedom is what our country was founded on and is a valid reason to object to this. The "reforms" we see can be viewed as an attempt to bring Socialist ideals into our schools to indoctrinate our kids with half-truths, deceptions and outright lies. Its abuse to put it mildly. The biggest religious objection to this is that socialist ideals enslave and indoctrinate, and take away an individuals ability to use their God-given free will-their power of thought and choice-or face intimidation and harassment.
The CC and these tests are a HUGE deception in themselves-they are being used to manipulate the (false) data to "show" that our kids, teachers and schools are failing. They are designed to make everyone fail-(especially the least among us-the special needs children) so that the gov/business can take over the schools. This is a deception by design and the search for a higher Truth is at the heart of any religion.
The testing is not about children succeeding - its about placing False Gods - the education companies' promise of money - before the greater good. To say that the kids need to deliver the message is missing the entire point and, in my opinion, a cop out. That "child shall lead them" quote is often taken completely out of context. It does not mean that kids will lead adults. That passage is about the lion, lamb and other creatures living in Peace-and the child being able to go near them without fear of harm.
But let's take that thought of a child leading a little bit further, and ask ourselves just how much more do we want to dump on the kids?
The kids have ALL of this dumped on them. They have so much pressure. If they don't "do well" on the tests, then they themselves, their teachers AND their school 'fails'. This is what they are told, over and over again.
In addition, we are dumping the cost of this implementation on them as well as other debt on them. A child born today will owe $1,532,026 in National Debt, and by the time I update this post that number will climb even higher.
This is NOT the kids responsibility to lead or to clean this up. WE did this and WE need to fix it: the administrators and school boards who gave in to the bribe and promise of funding, the teachers who passively sat there and did not object until it was tied to their evaluations, the parents that were not involved nor proactive in their child's education, and people in general not ensuring that our local and federal government does the right thing. It is our responsibility to take care of and support the kids-not the other way around. They have been used enough and its time we all act to put a stop to it.
The kids need support from LEADERS-adults-parents AND their teachers and administrators who will protect them from and stand by them on this, not people who are afraid to open their mouths when injustice and abuse is taking place all around them. In a school setting especially, there is a huge imbalance of power between children and adults, no matter how outspoken the student is.
Many kids don't understand the depth of the issues, nor the far reaching consequences, and are simply too scared: scared of "failing", of being teased, of being singled out, and of "getting in trouble" if they don't comply. Excessive sensitivity training, the CC and hype/indoctrination over the "importance" of the tests has ensured that they are too scared to object on their own and think that if they refuse or make waves they will be hurting their schools & teachers. Parents are being told the same thing. They are being bullied and used by state DOEs and local administrators to perpetuate this lie. Our kids are the "Useful Innocents" and WE - adults - have to be aware, present and assertive enough to recognize this, and to stand up and intervene in effective ways to stop the abusive forced compliance.
If educators are who are reporting & resisting abuse, injustices and crimes are being treated as if they are the ones committing the abuse, injustices & crimes, then they are being governed by the criminals. We need to act now.
So what say you? Do you think a "Teachers Opt Out" movement would be successful? Are you a teacher who would be willing to find out? Let's give it some serious thought as to what this would look like.
In the meantime, if anyone needs additional inspiration for parent or teacher religious objections, please refer to my most recent note on the left column of my Barbara Gini [Facebook] page. It is my letter to my daughter's school explaining what my own personal objections are, but it may be helpful in realizing & finding a way to verbalize your own moral/ethical objections.
Fell free to e-mail me: bg.bgini@gmail.com
Additional Reading:
Freedom Heroes: Mother Jones
United Opt Out National
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