Jamaal Bowman, principal of the Cornerstone Academy for Social Action Middle School in the Bronx, gives a dynamite interview aimed at black families about how to change the quality of education for their children.
He says we are investing billions in standardized testing and ignoring what we should be doing in our communities.
Black and brown children are being miseducated by current policies.
The “right to be tested” is not a right that helps children. It hurts them.
Diane Ravitch's blog 
The people of color communities are the biggest dupes and have been hoodwinked the most in this reform movement. They are vastly exploited, and Eva’s Success Academies are little more than a modern, high gloss version of white dominion over black.
It is horrible that so many poor minority children are treated with SA’s bootcamp tactics and harsh judgment system. There are healthy ways to get kids – even severely disruptive and affected ones – to pay attention and value education, and Eva does not want to go down that longer, more intensive path. It requires intellectualism and hard work.
Instead, she merely wants to streamline the process and put every child on a conveyor belt of discipline and code, disguising those features as “school culture” and “the pleasures of accomplishment”.
How very sad and infuriating that we have allowed our politicians to ignore our society’s set-up that causes and grows poverty. There was an article in today’s paper about an elderly black man with multiple sclerosis on Social Security and who had $4,500 garnished from his checking account from a debt agency. He is now behind in housing debt as a result. A debt collector was able to use the courts to get his money, but he is not able to access the courts to countersue the debt collector or the debtor because of the fine print that allowed only for arbitration. This reminds me of the scenes where the Dutch authorities viciously throw, with German shepherd dogs, a family out of their house because of the debt they incurred in the movie “Girl with a Pearl Earring”.
This one-way flow of justice and equality is hideous and pure, unadulterated evil.
And people want to know why there are more shootings across the USA.
Shame on most Democrats and nearly all GOPs.
Shame on the American people for allowing this kind of “culture” to evolve.
We have many of us to look at ourselves in the mirror, reflect, and continue to grow our pro-activism. It is part of our growing pains as a democracy.
I am hopeful now about the shift in American sentiment about fiscal justice; I am not as hopeful about imminent fiscal changes, but one has to start somewhere, as does the giant redwood from a mere seed . . . . Or a horrible fire consuming hundreds of thousands of acres, all to have started with a single lit match . . . .
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So TRUE.
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BTW, I left a message on Mr. Bowman’s voicemail about two months ago. I wanted to let him know that he is a hero and a true leader. He is brilliant, articulate, and advocates accordingly.
Excellent role model for anyone at any age from any walk of life!
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Keep up the good work, Jamaal Bowman–I very much appreciate it.
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Unfortunately, all schools are in the mix and not just black children. His focus on race would be better spent going after the Charters, which target poor communities for profit.
I had mentioned before that he is safe as long as he does not organize the parents as is being done on Long Island against Common Core and testing with the Opt Out movement. As someone in the system, he can vent, and that’s all.
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