Meg Norris was a seventh-grade teacher in Georgia who left teaching because she no longer believed in what she was mandated to do. She saw her students struggling with the Common Core standards. She believed that they were written in ways that were far beyond the students’ understanding.
This is the letter that Meg Norris wrote to her students and which she posted online for all to read and share:
To My Students,
I did not return to the classroom this year and I want to apologize. I am truly sorry for having left you. It was the hardest decisions I have ever made. I want you to understand why I left. It had nothing to do with you. I still love you and believe in you. You are still amazing and you can do anything you want to do. I did not give up on you. I left to fight for you.
I saw you struggling with Common Core skills. Even with the new curriculum from the district, no matter how I broke it down for you I could see you didn’t understand. I saw the frustration on your faces. And when time ran out and we had to take the county’s test (on the county’s schedule), I saw the tears roll from your eyes. You failed. I saw you missing school more days than normal. I saw you with long sleeves covering up the cutting scars on your arms. I saw how the sparkle in your eyes dimmed. I saw the small bald spot on your head where you had pulled out your hair. And it wasn’t just in my class. You hated going to math. You came early everyday for homework help, but it didn’t make any difference. You still could not understand.
I want you to know none of this is your fault. It is not you. I know the school, the county and the state call it “rigor.” That is a horrible word. Look it up in the dictionary for me. Rigor is for dead people. You are not failing because it is too hard. You are not failing because you are not working hard enough. You are not failing because of your teachers. You are failing because Common Core was not written by teachers. Common Core was not written to help you. Let me explain why this hurts you so much.
Your brain, as it develops, can only learn certain things at certain times. Common Core is trying to force you to learn things your brain is not ready to learn. Researchers for decades have found that the things Common Core requires you to do are impossible until you reach high school, at the earliest. No matter what your teachers do to get you to learn it, you aren’t going to be able to. There is nothing wrong with you. Your brain was designed perfectly. Common Core standards were not.
Common Core was written by businessmen trying to make money off of you. You and your learning are a grand experiment in corporate profits. If you fail at school, if your teachers fail to teach you, these corporations can sell more books, workbooks, tests, software and technology to schools and even to your parents to try at home. None of it will work. These same businessmen want to convince states to let them and their companies take over your schools. Your parent’s tax dollars would then go to these companies. Over $600 billion is spent on education every year in this country. This money should go to your education, not to private companies. It is very similar to what was done to prisons several years ago.
Common Core is the first time in the history of this country that a privately written and copyrighted plan has become public policy. There is no research to back it and it has never been tested. Politicians are pushing it because these corporations are giving them money to push it.
When I left I met with members of your Board of Education and told them what was happening. They ignored me. I went to the local newspaper and they ignored me too. When I spoke to the state Senate education committee they dismissed me as a political nut job. When I came back to chaperone your fall dance I was told I was “no longer one of you” and I could not come in because of my position on Common Core. Ghandi once said, “First they ignore you, then they ridicule you, then they fight you, and then you win.” We will win. We will win for you and every student after you. This is not political. This is for the future leaders of our country. These corporations don’t want to teach you how to think.
It is time for you to talk to your parents. Help them understand that opting you out of state testing will protect your personal information as well as stop the data that is being used to unfairly judge you and your teachers. Schools where more than 80% of kids have been opted out are cancelling these stressful tests that measure nothing. There is a new test coming to replace the CRCT, which is why politicians like Governor Deal and Superintendent Barge want to keep Common Core. Have your parents demand a portfolio of your work be kept and that your hard work be used to decide if you should go on to the next grade, not a random test. Any test not written by and graded by your teachers should never be allowed in the classroom.
Please do not worry about me. I am strong and people have called me worse names and banned me from much better places. Standing up for what is right is not always the easy thing. I knew that when I left my classroom. I have 32,000 other teachers from all over the country who are standing with me. I have education experts and child psychologists standing with me. I have politicians standing with me. I have famous authors standing with me. And the group is growing.
Just this week I got an email from Judy Blume, author of famous children’s classics like Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing, Blubber, Are You There God, It’s Me Margaret, Forever, and Tiger Eyes. She shared with me that she was a horrible test-taker. She is very grateful that she is not in school taking the kinds of tests you are taking. Can you imagine how horrible it would be if our favorite authors gave up because they could not do well on standardized tests that meant nothing? I don’t want to find out.
Talk to your parents and let them know what is happening in your classrooms. Every time you take a test or a survey, tell your parents. Be brave and keep making me proud. You can be anything you want to be. I am always here for you.
Mrs. Meg Norris, Ed.S.
7th Grade (former) teacher
Georgia
Meg Norris is a doctoral candidate in education and a certified teacher in Georgia. After 18 months with Common Core in her classroom her observations compelled her to walk away from her dream job of teaching to fight against the implementation of Common Core and high stakes testing. She was banned from her former school because of her stance against Common Core.
Diane Ravitch's blog 
I am glad you posted this. Well timed, in light of earlier conversations from yesterday.
Meanwhile, on the business side of things, the Pearson CEO is really excited about the “efficiency framework”:
“Translation: under Fallon, whose father taught math, Pearson wants to measure gains in learning not just financial returns. Led by chief education advisor, Sir Michael Barber, Pearson has created an “efficacy framework”–a set of tools for assessing if the conditions are in place for an education program to deliver its promised learning outcomes, which it plans to share publically.”
https://www.edsurge.com/n/2013-11-13-pearson-ceo-shares-his-road-ahead
“Elements of the framework include analyzing the data sets produced by the activity”
I love how passive the data freak’s language is – try to find “a student” or “a child” in there. Tools, conditions, outcomes. Apparently all this data is just being generated spontaneously and without the participation of tens of millions of children 🙂
This terrific letter says it all…and is so touching. She deserves a great deal of credit!
“You failed”
So ingrained into our cultural habitus, into most people’s minds is such a nefarious concept that one can “fail” in trying to learn and in learning that it appears this teacher didn’t think twice about including that two word sentence without any qualifying comments.
The F word. I’d rather have the students use “fuck’ in class before I want to hear the truly horrendous, for it’s subtle but deadly consequences, F word-FAIL.
Our society FAILS in its duty to children when we FAIL to see the pernicious outcomes of “grading” students. And that the only letter to have a word attached to it is the big F!
“Fu*@ing Failure” is what we should designate that educational malpractice.
Good for her for making this very difficult decision. Sometimes we have to take a strong stand against the injustices being perpetrated on our students especially if it means leaving the job you love intensely.
“I want you to know none of this is your fault. It is not you. I know the school, the county and the state call it “rigor.” That is a horrible word. Look it up in the dictionary for me. Rigor is for dead people.”
We hope that Bill Hammond, lobbyist for the Texas Association of Business, is paying attention. He is the one shouting RIGOR at the Kindergartners of Texas, who took away all their creative play, and is punishing them with boring non stop literacy curriculum test prep for their two standardized test. He is gelotophobic and not able recognize how this is impacting children. Einstein said “Creativity is Intellect having Fun”! Einstein also said
“Play is exercise for the Imagination”! Einstein is smarter than Bill Hammond. We need to listen to Einstein! This perpetuation of cruelty to children must stop!
Bill Hammond is suffering from “rigor mortis”.
gelotophobic – afraid of gelatin?
Piaget would have been proud of Meg Norris. She understands what he observed and described about cognitive development. She is right. The profit-seeking businessmen seek “rigor” (I love her take on that!) but they are guilty of child abuse. Her analysis is both eloquent and perceptive. Her difficult decision demonstrates wisdom and courage – two qualities sadly lacking in most of the corporate-reform driven initiatives. Well Done Meg!
Well said! Ditto!
There’s a caveat here.
Meg Norris, the teacher lauded in this post, has endorsed conservative Republican and Tea Party favorite David Pennington for governor of Georgia. Pennington is even more conservative than current Republican governor Nathan Deal, and in the 2010 race for governor, Deal was endorsed by the likes of Newt Gingrich, Sarah Palin, and Mike Huckabee.
Pennington believes that life begins at the moment of conception. Even though Georgia ranks 34th in total tax burden, Pennington wants to cut taxes even more. As mayor of Dalton, Georgia, Pennington is referred to as “King David” for his imperious style and his unwillingness to listen to others and to compromise.
But Meg Norris urges others to ” support him and his vision of protecting our children.”
Common Core may not be so hot, but guess what? Neither is David Pennington.
Actually, I am a democrat and would love nothing more than to see Jason Carter in the position. His wife is a teacher and I’m sure is aware of the damage done by CC in the classroom. As of today, Pennington is the only one man enough to stand up and say “NO!” Common Core is my litmus test. If you cannot promise me it will leave my state, I will not give you my vote.
My essential point remains: You HAVE endorsed David Pennington, who is, in fact, a very conservative Tea Party Republican, one who has promised to cut Georgia’s already-low overall tax rate even more.
Do you dispute that you’ve endorsed David Pennington?
As I note, Common Core may not be so hot, but neither is David Pennington.
Meg,
Have you written, tweeted, etc. Carter regarding his positions on ” school reform”.
I am cautiously supporting him, but given the school deform climate, I am pretty sure he will need to be informed of what is really going on and how the status quo is effecting students, teachers and communities.
Perhaps we all need to contact his office with requests he read reign of error, or perhaps we should send him a copy. Maybe we can push him on the issue before the lobbyist and the big money ( TFA, Pearson, Common Core, the charter operators and various other edu – frauds, shysters etc.) put him in the Obama, Duncan camp.
I also encourage you to reconsider your support for Pennington. Hard right tea party types will not help GA schools.
Your fellow Georgian,
Ang
” Your brain was designed perfectly.”
Only if you believe in a god who is all perfect and therefore can’t produce anything other than perfection.
Sorry, but the brain evolved and was not “designed” (that’s god talk lingo). And it is still evolving in all. And the good part, humans have no control over that evolution, nothing does.
But Duane this letter is for young folks to read. And they need nurturing and care and a courage that tells them they are OK as they are. I don’t mean everyone gets a trophy type thing, but a sensitivity to their varying levels of discovery of what is real and what is not. Some seventh graders still play Barbies, or school. And they like gel pens and glitter notebooks. They like songs about rainbows and unicorns.
I learned with one twelve year old I taught, once, to still keep a respect for the discovery important to children open to them by being positive. At the time (younger teacher, pre-motherhood) I was certain I was doing the right thing by letting a 12 year old Broadway juggernaut (seriously, this girl was in love with herself and was good at a Broadway style singing, but was myopic and had little regard for anyone else’s pursuits or aspirations in music. it was all about her and Broadway. And it was a private school) become truly informed about how Broadway stacked up against other music realms. Anyway, in our lessons I pointed out how Broadway is more of a commodity than art for art’s sake. . .it is not considered high art and were high art a gourmet restaurant, Broadway would be more akin to fast food. It hurt her feelings. And even though she might have needed a little something to help her see beyond the end of her nose, in hindsight I wish I had let her come to that conclusion herself rather than leading her to it (or point blank telling her). It is then that I realized that 12 year olds are children. And we still need to let them dream and imagine, even as we prepare them for the big bad world. Part of encouraging that dreaming and imagination is to be loving and supportive; not always factual and effusive with harsh realities.
So remember. 12 year olds. Gel pens. Glitter. Let them imagine. Be positive and encouraging.
At 12 it would have been hard to tell my youngest that his brain was perfect. He would have said that you didn’t know what you were talking about. He had to have Chiari Malformation (too much brain material at the base of the skull which cuts off the flow of the cerebral spinal fluid) surgery (8 hour cut to stitch) in October of 7th grade, and then the following February scoliosis surgery (6 hour cut to stitch which he said was nothing compared to the pain of the Chiari surgery) and the accompanying pins, etc. . . .
He (now 21) still has pain from all the various surgeries he’s had over the years and struggles with it. Perfect schmerfect!
Contrary to what Bernie1815 may think of my take on educational standards and testing, I do not propose “perfection” as the ultimate standard. Perfect is a concept that is unachievable in the physical world but can be achieved in thought. And to tell 12 year olds that their brain is “perfectly designed” is to me is dead wrong, very hubristic and belies a lack of knowledge on the teacher’s part of physiology or an overriding belief system-a type of “hidden” intelligent design concept.
Some or even most of the fairer sex may enjoy the things you mention for 12-13 year olds. But by then most of the boys have a bit more of a “hardened” view of the world at that point.
I think it depends on the child (sorry your son had to endure that pain). But that said, the teacher who wrote the letter on this post (who I think is young) is simply trying to convey her support to her former students. So don’t go lookin’ a gift horse in the mouth on their behalf, yo. Perfect is, perhaps, a word that should just not be used (except when talking about harmonics, in which case the unison, fourth, fifth and the octave are, by definition, perfect)—(afterall, if the level seven for ranking a teacher is never used, yet it is the highest level achievable (except that it’s not), then there would be perfect teachers, and we know that there are not.
When you are 12 and you continue to fail and not understand, it is very easy to think that there is something “wrong” with your brain. I had many children ask me if there was something “wrong” with them.
Meg,
Are you familiar with Foucault’s concept of “subjectivization”? If not allow me a brief primer. It points to the perniciousness of the “grading” of students and how they internalize that “something is wrong”. The first paragraph is Wilson’s writing, second mine.
Foucault and his concept of subjectivization:
“So the mark [grade/test score] becomes part of the story about yourself and with sufficient repetitions becomes true: true because those who know, those in authority, say it is true; true because the society in which you live legitimates this authority; true because your cultural habitus makes it difficult for you to perceive, conceive and integrate those aspects of your experience that contradict the story; true because in acting out your story, which now includes the mark and its meaning, the social truth that created it is confirmed; true because if your mark is high you are consistently rewarded, so that your voice becomes a voice of authority in the power-knowledge discourses that reproduce the structure that helped to produce you; true because if your mark is low your voice becomes muted and confirms your lower position in the social hierarchy; true finally because that success or failure confirms that mark that implicitly predicted the now self-evident consequences. And so the circle is complete.”
In other words students “internalize” what those “marks” (grades/test scores) mean, and since the vast majority of the students have not developed the mental skills to counteract what the “authorities” say, they accept as “natural and normal” that “story/description” of them. Although paradoxical in a sense, the “I’m an “A” student” is almost as harmful as “I’m an ‘F’ student” in hindering students becoming independent, critical and free thinkers. And having independent, critical and free thinkers is a threat to the current socio-economic structure of society.
“Common Core is the first time in the history of this country that a privately written and copyrighted plan has become public policy.”
That is quite interesting. Does anyone know if that is true?
I have a question. How do we know schools are good? How do we know that kids in the classroom are learning or that teachers are teaching them without testing? It may not be an issue or even a thought in many districts (of COURSE it’s a good school, of COURSE the teachers are teaching and the children are learning) but what about those very underfunded, understaffed inner city schools? Don’t we need some sort of testing? Otherwise, if each district was left to do its own thing and federal money was only tied to graduation rates, wouldn’t even (especially!) those very bad failing schools just issue diplomas to every student (no matter how badly they are doing) and keep the rates high?
I don’t think we need to be testing kindergartners (!) and I do think that too much testing can lead to fear of failure or squashing a child’s interest in learning, but…doesn’t there need to be *something* to see if all students are actually learning?
Federal money should be tied to poverty, not test scores or graduation rates. That’s the original and authentic purpose of federal aid to education.
Well said, Meg.
I quit, too, for many of the same reasons and am now tutoring.
I’m actually helping kids! Not hurting them…..
Stephen Round