Jill Berardi is the parent of a child in kindergarten in New York. She is also the assistant principal of a middle school in Red Hook, New York, in the Hudson Valley. Here she appeals directly to Michelle Obama to take action to help children like her own. Please feel free to share this letter on Facebook, Twitter, and other social media sites. Maybe The First Lady will read it.
Mrs. Obama: Save our Children!
Dear Mrs. Obama,
Your husband, our president, is surrounded by policymakers who are not listening. It is high time that mothers evaluate what is best for our children! I am writing you an open letter because you receive much mail and my letter could be tossed aside by one of your aides. I am also interested in consensus and feel that this is a time when the more voices that are heard, the better our correction course may be!
My son started kindergarten this year and one of the first letters home was about the Common Core Curriculum and how there would be homework every night. And so it began, it is mid-year and I have hundreds of worksheets at home. This is because I only allowed him to do what could be done in a half an hour. He started the school year at four years old and needs time to play, eat and talk with his parents.
Had I allowed him to do all of the nonsensical worksheets that were stamped Engage NY from the New York State Education Department, his parents would have spent more than an hour every evening with a child, who according to good education theory should not be holding a pencil yet.
Those who can afford prestigious private schools are buffered from the impact of U.S. education policy gone very wrong. For the rest of us, our children are being oppressed by developmentally inappropriate curricular materials designed by non-educators. Some of the worksheets are not understandable to me and I find myself wondering how much stress this must cause to mothers who have several children and do not have a Master Degree in Education, as I do.
You see, I am writing to you as a parent, but I am also an assistant principal in a high-performing middle school. In response to this outrage, I am writing a curriculum that will address the “whole child.” Like teachers, children cannot be reduced to a numeric score! The fragmentation that some cavalier policy entrepreneurs think will help kids excel is in danger of producing stress, breakdown and the first generation of American conformists as everyone competes for the correct answers. This unfortunate situation is motivating the design of my social curriculum, which is based on brain-based theories of development related to the main principles of healthy communication, working with others, working independently, empathy and evolution of personal strengths. Personal resilience and wellbeing are the educational foundation that all children deserve so they can learn, thrive and grow.
There are so many things wrong with politically driven education reform that it is difficult to figure out where to start to make sense of a high jacked domain! As a parent of a kindergarten student and an assistant principal in a high-performing middle school, I am asking you to stop the test score harvesting debacle known as RTTT. By removing the number score on teacher evaluations that is related to student performance, much of the unhealthy tension and nonsensical tests and formulas will be lifted off U.S. public schools.
If you would like to meet or speak with me, I would be very happy to come and help you understand how as First Lady you can save a generation of students from the fall-out of a failed education policy.
Jill Berardi
Why let your child do any homework at all? Personally, I think homework can wait until at least 4th grade, but even the guidelines that homework proponents recommend is 10 minutes per night per grade. Kindergarten would be like grade 0, I guess. 0 x 10 = 0. Even a half hour is way too much.
I admire you for standing up for your son, but don’t give in to the compromise mentality. Don’t agree to something that’s wrong just to protect him from something worse. Give ’em an inch and they’ll park a ’69 Lincoln Continental in it.
I am a parent too and I would be very upset about that amount of homework for a 4 year old as well. I am proud of you for standing up!!! Too many parents sit back and say nothing. Obviously, I am not one of them. I have been told I make too much noise. My son is 11 years old and I did not realize that was going on in kindergarten. That is appalling. I hope Mrs. Obama listens to you. Its not just education its everything. People in this country need to learn how to speak up and say “NO”. Too many sit back in their lazy boy and let someone else do it. I get tierd of listening to myself because I feel like I am one of the few that do. Good Luck and hope you succeed with the letter.
You know you’re on the right path when you’re told you make too much noise. I’m reminded of the scene in “The Shawshank Redemption” where Tim Robbins’ character is trying to get a prison library, so he keeps writing to some state official every day. Finally the official sends him a small check and basically tells him to shut up. So he starts writing *two* letters a day.
Thank you. Your words are a huge encouragement. I will remember your words and reference to the “Shawshank Redemption”. Thanks again!!!
I hope Mrs. Obama reads this. I am a teacher and grandmother and I am shocked at what is being forced on our youngest children.
A developmentally appropriate curriculum, tested for nearly 100 years, is already available for kindergarten children. Waldorf education, which honors the need of the young child to learn through play, art, music, practical work and stories, is a model for preparing young children to become life-long learners and critical, creative thinkers. There is no need to push early academics. Common Core is exacerbating a problem that has been building in our American public schools for too many years. It is time to stop the madness!
Ask a child what they hate most about school, and they will answer, “worksheets!”
Unfortunately a Waldorf education is only available to students that can choose their school.
Homework in Kindergarten? It makes no sense at all.
Thank-you, Jill, for speaking up for all our children. I have spoken at one of King’s forums — I don’t even think he heard me. But the more of us who speak up, the less possible it is for us to be ignored. Thank-you to all of you fighting to save this generation of children from the corporate “reformers”!
Brava, Jill!
Mrs. Obama, you know exactly what children need. You have done an excellent job raising your two girls and selecting a wonderful school for them to attend. Your commitment in taking a role in advocating for exercise and healthy food for children has been outstanding. I sincerely hope you hear this mother’s voice, and the voices of many educators and parents concerned about the damaging corporate policies killing the hearts and souls of children across America. You are too intelligent and wise to continue to remain silent or indifferent. Don’t allow the money of billionaires and their power to quiet your commitment or courage to stand up for other people’s children. Save our children, and you will honor your own children through a caring example of moral courage and truth.
Why did you choose to let a boy begin kindergarten at age 4? This would not be recommended by brain-based child development research.
In Illinois state law requires that a child be 5 by September 1. I’m surprised a 4-year-old would be allowed to start kindergarten.
I could be wrong but it is my understanding that in NY one needs to be 5 by the end of November or December I can’t recall exactly…but it seems to be later than other states.
In NYS the cut off date is Dec 1 in some districts, but Dec 31 in others. My daughters birthday is Dec 10 and she waited a year, but I could have gotten around that deadline by enrolling her in a private school kindergarten, then the local schools would have accepted her into first grade at the age of five.
My happy enthusiastic granddaughter started kindergarten in a high performing Texas school. All the emphasis was on “performance” and “work”. The was little “imaginative play”. My granddaughter loved her teacher, but became increasingly fearful of disappointing her teacher. who focused so much on her high scores, and caused her to be labeled “smartest” kid in the class. Granddaughter became a “perfectionist” and was having “anxiety” attacks, signs of PTSD by 2nd grade. This child has been permanently psychologically damaged from being a “trophy” child. Our schools in Texas are institutions of abuse from ignorance about children’s developmental needs!
The politicians making school policy are child “perpetrators” and should be arrested and have their identities posted on a statewide”registry”!
From my summary of Wilson’s work “Educational Standards and the Problem of Error”. The first paragraph is what he wrote, the second my comment:
“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.
Right you are! The interest in our children is gone, let’s start teaching the test in K and they will excel…. I am a former teacher in the state of Texas and refuse to participate in the debacle they call education in this state any longer. I taught in a very high performing district (Katy ISD) and although a lot of my students performed well in daily classroom instruction and on state mandated tests, the reality is the parents are also highly educated and have actively participated in their child’s education, making my job easier perhaps, yet the state has lost the whole purpose of what the primary grades are for: K= social development, Grades 1-4: reading, writing and arithmetic, and that is all! It is a very sad situation we are in…indeed! I wish the best of luck to your granddaughter, and think how sad this is the way we are educating the most important members of our society!
Thank you Jill, for writing this letter. I have thought about writing to Mrs. Obama many times, but haven’t as yet. I will retweet Diane’s tweet and add @Flotus. Everyone who reads this and supports your POV should do the same. I would also urge people to remind Mrs. Obama what she promised during her husband’s first campaign in an interview- that unlike other presidents, he would admit when he made a mistake. We have seen him apologize to the Cambridge police dept. when he said they acted “stupidly” in the Skip Gates arrest. He has taken responsibility for the inept rollout of healthcare.gov. He now needs to see how allowing non-educators like Gates and Coleman to craft education policy was extremely damaging. Of course, it didn’t help that he had the blessings for many (if not all?) of these policies from the leadership of leading educators’ unions-and of course, many, many, many members of these organizations voted for him-twice. During the Trayvon Martin case, he empathized with his parents and asked all Americans to put themselves in their shoes as well.I would like him to do the same for every public school parent whose children are being subjected to this “voodoo education” policy, and ask himself- “Would I want this for Malia and Sasha and their teachers?” Then, he needs to come clean, and move in a new direction. Perhaps Michelle is the one that might finally get him to move.
“Perhaps Michelle is the one that might finally get him to move.”
Ha ha ha aha ha ahha ha ha ahha ha!, That’s a good un!
Why anyone believes that Mrs. Obomber will “save” public education is beyond my realm of thinking.
There is no need for “saviours” here. There is a need for civil disobedience, though, by parents, teachers and students and perhaps the few administrators who actually have some guts, gumption and cojones.
Michelle Obama has been known to throw her 2 cents in behind the scenes when she thinks actions by members of his administration are harming his image- if she realizes his support of corp ed reform is going to put him on the wrong side of history (perhaps due to the backlash of the groups you mention),she may become involved again:
Kindergarteners having homework…that’s outrageous! Even more frightening having engageNY for homework. Send it back. Tell them their wasting natural resources.
“…according to good education theory should not be holding a pencil yet.”
Wonder why we have more OTs on the job? Our requirements (NCLB, RttT, CCSS) are creating learning disabilities.
Great letter! If only someone would listen.
One vote for removing this racist drivel, Diane.
A minority friend of mine says you cannot be racist unless you are in a position of determining whether or not someone can work or where they live. Bias should be called “prejudice;” but I did not pick that up from Harlan’s comment.
Harlan is this blog’s Archie Bunker. I believe he wants the best for our country. I do. He has his ideas and he sticks to them, but he keeps reading. So there’s that.
That said, I think the Shawshank comparison (a nice one) also implies this lady is in a position of being the prisoner, writing to the outside world for some reprieve. So his notion is really not that different here.
As an affluent white male, Harlan is part of the system that determines who can work and live where. My comment stands – Harlan has confirmed his racist bona fides. And, sorry, I don’t mean to be rude, but comparing the Shawshank Redemption to slavery is ludicrous.
Joanna, I tend to agree with you.
I am repulsed by Harlan, but he seems earnest and intentional, however ignorant he is. There is almost a certain kind of dangerous innocence about him.
I do believe he is not “affluent” as Dienne has posted. I value Dienne’s comments almost always.
Robert, this deliberately sick individual just derailed the comments on a mother’s plea for her children with his ugly, racist attack. That’s what a troll does.
Whatever your judgement is of Michelle Obama’s political and social role, consider how you’ve let this man characterize them with his pretended “dangerous innocence”. Would you allow yourself to speak that disrespectfully to any black woman, including this one one (who grew up as the daughter of a a city water plant employee and Democratic precinct captain)?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michelle_Obama
Chemtchr,
Your point are well taken and absorbed. I truly respect your view and am aligned with it.
I am the kind of thinker who looks at the big picture (macro) as well as the fine print. I was analayzing Harlan’s overall character in whatever superficial way I can given the limitations I have by reading only his comments and not knowing him personally.
And personally, I don’t WANT to get to know him on that level.
Admittedly, there is some overlap as to his views about the motives of Obama and his wife. I have repeadetly said to Harlan via this blog and also to others that BOTH sides of the aisle – most – are to also blame.
If you have followed any of my comments with him online, you will see nothing but gasoline and fire, and I have, thank goodness, had the freedom to say things far more expressively about his views offline with other people.
As a NBCT deeply and proudly entrenched in minority communities, who I serve, I can assure you there is nothing innocent or innocuous about Harlan’s limited, childish views. Ditto for his glorious Tea Party.
However, as someone who has also contributed proudly to the SPLC, I still value, at the risk of angering many, the fact that we have an African American as President and First Lady. The act of voting such an image into office is critical to human justice. I was thumbing my nose at my Western European counterparts, who are far more progressive and civilized than American culture in my opinion and have safety nets we can only dream of, because as progressive as they are, they are still afraid of pigmentation.
I reel at their fear and still don’t understand it.
That said, I uphold the symbolism of Barack abd Michelle Obama proudly.
But when I hone in on their politics, they are virtually no better than Barbara Bush, Paul Ryan, the Tea Party, ALEC, Citizens United, and corporate America, which through its lobbying, has a strangle hold on our electoral and democratic processes.
And I have and only will judge Obama abd his wife based on his politics, hiw wilingess to be vulnerable and take risks, and for how integral he is when it comes to the way he has campaigned versus the way he governs.
Of course, I am equally critical of my elected officials. Let’s not put everything on the executive branch, but he certainly has the spotlight more easily than other politicians and could be using it like Roosevelt did to go against his own class.
Not that FRD was an angel, either, but everything is on a spectrum.
Getting back to Mr. non-illuminating Underhill:
I did state that his remarks were “racist” and “inaccurate”. I do share, in some very appropriate overlap, his views on how corrupt the president and his wife are.
And I meant it.
And to answer your last question, given my values, I would not allow Grand-Canyon-sized-mouth Harlan Underhill to speak to any woman that way, regardless of her background.
I would not be surprised if the host blocks HU out. She has warned him about this sort of thing before, no?
I hope this response meaures up to some level of reasonable accountability that I feel is owed to you and other readers . . . . .
Unless you work in the inner city, as a white middle class suburbanite, you would have no clue to the pride the black community felt on Obama’s election. Our elementary school had our own inaugural ball in celebration. It was a real ego booster for children who have little to rejoice. I placed a large Obama Poster in the library next to a poster of Lincoln.
I don’t have issues with Obama. I never denigrated Bush, even though I thought he did a lot of harmful things to the country. I actually liked Laura. If your candidate loses, you must be graceful about it. What goes around comes around. You can’t have it both ways.
Harlan – chill out.
We had an inaugural ball in our school also with the kindergartners. I danced with the superintendent. We had footage of the inauguration on a large screen in the background upon the stage of the gym, which also doubles as an auditorium.
It was a very proud day and a role model for so many minority and non-minority children in our school.
I see nothing wrong with criticizing people who harm others through their catastrophic policies.
And I DO fiercely denigrate GW Bush and all those who supported him in invading Iraq, the cost of which has been inconvceivable but real interms of life, limb, and money.
Obama’s policies and his wife’s silence are harming children, families, teachers, and administrators. He and others who support him are unacceptable in this vein . . . .
While I am willing to criticize, I will not resort to name calling. Obama is our President and I will give him my support, but that does not mean I’m not willing to call him out on his mistaken policies. He’s definitely on the wrong side of the education issue.
Not that it really matters, Ellen, but I respectfully beg to differ.
Obama is our president, and I will never give him my support, and I’m willing to denigrate his policies and politics because they in turn denigrate children, parents, teachers, adminstrators, and unions.
There is NOTHING innocent, misguided, or unintentional about Barack and Michelle Obama and what they really want to do to public education.
NOTHING . . . . . .
Hope this ends up in the right place this time. (Jill, please see my comments from January 4th, evening, somehow lost in the scrum of the Harlan debate. Best thing you can do is to start working w/other like-minded parents w/kindergarteners, then older grades, in the school–start the dialogue w/admin, then protest, if you must. Follow the lead of Helen Gym {read Diane’s post 1/4}).
Anyway–agree with you 100%+, Robert. The days of whine and roses need to be over–long past due for activism–all over the country.
Yes, Retiredbutmissthekids, activism is THE only choice here. There was the labor movement of the 1930s, the civil rights movement in the 1960s. . . . There is an inevitable resurgence of rights to be won again. BUT parents are key! Not unions. Parents and teachers and administrators together; that’s the holy grail, and it will be found and used1
Thank you for your comments. Keep writing in. I’ll always be reading your things . . . .
And this was nicely said by you, Ellen! I am not a fan of Obama, but the importance of his election to the highest position of our country cannot be underestimated. It gave pride and hope to everyone, but especially black Americans. The inaugural ball at your school sounds wonderful!! Love that!
Dienne–
with all due respect, anything anyone says that is not in lock step with your views you tend to find ludicrous.
Sometimes you are as bad as FOX news, just slanting the other direction (just sayin’).
I slant the same direction you do, but I do listen and consider where the other side is coming from so that I can try to understand it.
Prison and slavery seem pretty akin to me, especially for the character in Shawshank, who was innocent.
As bad as FOX news?
Wow
Just wow
Meant for for JB @ 5:54
One vote to override Dienne’s on this one. (It’s not often I disagree with what you write, Dienne!)
DIenne,
You’re fantastic in my book. i just don’t agree with you on this one. But that’s okay. We all have more than enough overlap . . . .
Seconded!
Harlan is either affluent himself or he’s a mighty-fine useful idiot for the affluent – a Joe the Plumber type who thinks he’s going to buy his boss’s business. Somehow.
The sad irony is the fact that President and Mrs. Obama know very well what constitutes a good education. Read their article in the March 2010 issue of Ebony Magazine.
Parents will put an end to the insanity of the present educational malpractice. I have no doubt about that. It’s only a matter of time.
“The fragmentation that some cavalier policy entrepreneurs think will help kids excel is in danger of producing stress, breakdown and the first generation of American conformists as everyone competes for the correct answers.”
Being a Gen Xer, most of my teachers came of age in the late 50s/early 60s when (if my reading of John Cheever and post-war sociology is useful here) people were preoccupied with the dangers of conformity. This was not just a concern of alternative educators, but of my mainstream public school teachers too. It seems to me that even in the confines of mainstream schooling students have usually been able to find mentors who were interested in their unique personal development. I fear the standardization tidal wave will have the effect of washing away opportunities for teachers to communicate “I care about YOU..and YOUR interests and YOUR capacities.” This is perhaps the most insidious thing about the standardization movement.
I caught a little bit of Dead Poet’s Society a few days ago. I think the movie resonated with people because they either wished they had a teacher like that or remembered the time a teacher had taught them to learn to be the master of their own fate, and captain of their own soul. Although I would like to say that I can provide this kind of transformational experience for my children myself, the relationship between mother and child is complex. Also, adolescence is usually the time when the idea of being “master of one’s own fate” truly has some meaning. But, at that point, children are naturally turning away from mommy. As a mother, I need teachers to help my children know that they are the master of their own fate and captain of their own soul. I would be so bold as to say that anyone who enters the teaching profession is sensitive to this need and is already motivated to help me. However, both of us (parents and teachers) need the support of the school system for this to happen. At the very least, we can’t have the system actively implementing policies that discourage it.
I have written to Ms. Obama about her silence with regards to the closing of over 50 schools in her hometown. I have also written to her about the Academy of Pediatrics’ policy statement on Recess. In this statement the conclusion includes the following;
“Within the school environment, there are
competing calls for stricter standards
and greater academic achievement as
well as calls for schools to provide
greater opportunities for non sedentary
daily activity. Even with ample evidence
of a whole-child benefit from recess,
significant external pressures, such as
standardized cognitive testing mandated
by educational reforms, have led some
to view recess as time that would be
better spent on academics.
Time previously dedicated to daily activity in
school, such as physical education and
recess, is being reallocated to make way
for additional academic instruction.”
http://pediatrics.aappublications.org/content/131/1/183.full
I ask her how she can expect children to move with the reform her husband is pushing? If she really wants children to move she can not be in agreement with her husband’s current education policy.
The funny (not ha ha) thing is that there are a number of studies that seem to show that increased exercise also increases performance on any number of measures, including standardized tests.
The other funny thing is “Why does anyone give a crap about ‘increasing performance on any number of measures, including standardized test’?”
There are no “measures” of the teaching and learning process as that is a logical impossibility. Why would one want to continue furthering a “logical impossibility”. “Can I beat my head against the brick wall more, sir?” That meme is as deadly as any virulent microbe.
So doing science projects, writing essays, doing presentations, performing in plays and concerts, etc. aren’t measures of performance? I mean, sure, we could quibble about the wording, but they are performance tasks which get measured in some form, whether a score, letter grade, narrative evaluation, etc. Or are you opposed to those types of measurements too?
Dienne,
Yes, I am opposed to those types of supposed measurements except the “narrative evaluation” as long as it includes the student in the narrative process, as they suffer all the inaccuracies and errors shown by Wilson that renders the process invalid.
And I’m not “quibbling” with terminology here. The terminology that we use makes a great difference in understanding. What you describe are not measurements. They are an attempt to quantify and simplify the very complex human interaction that is the teaching and learning process and lack validity. To quote Wilson on this problem (just one of his many jewels of wit and wisdom to be found his study to which I constantly refer):
“It requires an enormous suspension of rational thinking to believe that the best way to describe the complexity of any human achievement, any person’s skill in a complex field of human endeavour, is with a number that is determined by the number of test items they got correct [or a rubric]. Yet so conditioned are we that it takes a few moments of strict logical reflection to appreciate the absurdity of this.”
The Obama administration promised an end to the junk science agenda of the previous adminitration. Such developmentally inappropriate implementation of Common Core is junk science, in adition to being child abuse. Obama parents, please cease and desist with the junk science. Arne Duncan should resign. My vote for you for president was a mistake.
Harlan,
Your imagery is disgusting, racist, and even inaccurate.
However, your assessment of the Last Lady and her oppressive husband are, sadly enough, spot on . . . . .
I am with you in characterizing this undynamic duo’s motives.
You are a mean guy, Harlan, and not my friend.
But you are right on this one. Right on target.
Could you not have chosen less emotional language?
Michelle’s got nothing for you. She went to have dinner with Rahm and keep him company the night before he closed 50 public schools in Chicago.
I continue to be amazed that collectively we have not been able to find a way hold the perpetrators of this continuing abuse to accountable for this form of child abuse!
Mrs. Obama needs to be reminded that HER children do not attend a school that foists such abuse on children. If she feels this type of education is the best for her girls, why not ours?
(Reposted from another article, but I thought it hits home here):
The ever changing hairstyle empty-headed, empty heart vapid Michelle Obama was busy helping close public schools more than 15 years ago when she sat on this board and that board with her husband and belonged to think tanks whose sole aim was to charterize the system in Chicago.
This woman, who has been mistakenly compared to Jackie Kennedy, is little more than a vapid, hollow shell of a public figure, who will one day protect her shell in the $34 million dollar Honolulu ocean front manse that Penny Pritzker is helping to finance.
Michelle and her angry husband are the neo-liberal Barbie and Ken of edu-reform, they with their smiles, hugs, hair touching, and dancing with children in poor urban neighbrohoods at deliberately underfinanced public schools on blacktop behind chained link fences. . .. all in the name of privatizing a public trust system.
Make no mistakes: Organic produce and wispy bangs or not, Michelle Obama is the strong, reptilian vampire who stands behind her Dracula . . . . .
Go Mom!!!!
You know, I think the reason the Obama Administration is not going to listen (Arne too) is that they hold the system of public education (the overall gestalt and all of its parts. . .the training, the pay system, the materials used, the methods of accountability) as the evil that has contributed to a divide in terms of achievement in our society. And I do not believe they properly or adequately represent the Democratic party as a whole in doing so, but they are the faction of the party that is in charge and so that is the prevailing and well-funded sentiment. There is a philosophical notion assigned to the public education (schooling) institution that is on trial right now. Those in charge have rendered the verdict and are acting on it. . .and they have the support of a lot of wealth, wit and muscle to go along with it.
The real task is convincing this regime that poverty and achievement gaps and black males in prison and everything else they might be blaming on the public school system of the last sixty years (cancer, AIDS, global warming, the war in Afghanistan. . .hee hee, just kidding. . .but it wouldn’t surprise me) is just not that simple. They are attacking a fictitious monster. It might be a behemoth (but I think we have the Department of Ed’s formation to blame for that), but turning it into the giant that created all ills is what they have done. That’s where the light needs to be shined. . .that there is leadership using the lazy tactic of scapegoating going on at an unbelievable, historic perhaps (Diane??) level and pretty soon they will be chasing their own tales, but they will have done a lot of harm in the process. It’s kind of like having a drink at a bar with a man who has one thing on his mind and trying to talk about world peace–he isn’t listening. They aren’t listening. They are blinded by the script they have written that says that public schools are the reason the sun goes behind the clouds and watch out because we’re going to take it down and go down in history as the heroes who kept the rain away.
Like Gru in Despicable Me when he’s trying to get the moon.
But then his heart is warmed by the very children he was going to use to achieve his plot for absolute power.
Let’s hope some children can warm the hearts of the zealous folks waging this unnecessary war.
That’s where prayer comes in, in my opinion. Private prayer, perhaps. But some divine intervention would be a good thing right about now.
(I know, I know. . .some of you think I’m silly for that. But that’s who I am).
I just finished reading a heart-felt piece by a recently retired teacher who has a blog. I think everyone of us fortunate enough to have learned and taught pre “corporate ed reform” can understand exactly where her words are coming from. Sure wish Michelle Obama would read her words as well. Surely, she cannot truly buy into the nonsense espoused by Duncan (or she would have her own kids in DC Public Schools)!
https://teacherbiz.wordpress.com/2014/01/02/guest-post-my-mom-a-retired-english-teacher-reflects-on-recent-changes-in-education/
Thanks for sharing. I can relate to the good ole days when teachers and students had a human connection.Today our job is to know what students know academically and MAKE them reach their target (goals), so we can keep our jobs. No time to really get to know them personally, which so many of them want from us. Kids remember how much we cared about them first, before the instruction we taught.
Thank you art. That was well worth reading. This whole situation is a travesty for our children.
I don’t know about Sidwell Friends, but more than a few of the $40,000+/year private schools the powerful elite in New York City send their kids to actually do assign daily homework in kindergarten, as do several of the most sought-after religious and parochial schools. Like most other things, I’m sure there’s a range of what’s appropriate and what isn’t.
And they’re wrong for doing so also!
“Her view toward education is the same as Marie Antoinette’s toward the cry of the masses for bread: “Let them eat cake.” Most truths ARE unpleasant.”
HU, the “unpleasant truth” on this on is that there is no confirmation that MA ever uttered that phrase. See: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Let_them_eat_cake
Well, then, let’s update it to, “Let them eat organic grass fed, pasture raised, free range chicken.” . . . . . . .
TAGO!
Sorry! I meant to second Dienne’s comment and put it in the wrong place. Seconded to removing HU’s awful racism.
Thank you. How can anyone defend an affluent white man using terms like “field hand” and “Massa” and say it isn’t racism?
I would remove it, if I could. That style of trolling gets its punch from a deeply racist tradition that dishonors humanity. Yes, racist. Whether the writer understands what he’s calling on or not, I’ve heard it before and this fool is playing at Klan discourse; the only way he reaches his slave/overseer provocation is by Michelle Obama’s color.
I need to close this page now, it sickens me.
I removed it. It was racially offensive.
Agree and thank you.
That sort of word choice ( massa, etc.) is racially offensive and unnecessary.
Harlan – you had a lot of fun writing this one. We all know where you stand on the Obamas. However, the issue is the wonderful letter written by Jill Berandi. She is right on the money. Jill, you should make this into a petition, I would be the first to sign.
The thing is, we don’t need to exaggerate. The truth is simple. CCSS was poorly written and does not match the developmental levels of the students. Homework is just one symptom.
Whether Michelle Onama sees this letter or not, does not take away from the message. Anything else which has been said is superfluous.
Last year my grand daughter was in fifth grade and I was her after school babysitter. We would make dinner together (or she would “play”). After dinner the two of us would sit down and do homework. Sometimes we would be doing homework until her bedtime (9:30) and if we were done early she would go to bed and do her twenty minutes of reading. This is a bright girl with above average intelligence, but a C student in school, partially due to the myriad of incomplete or missing assignments. She is slow in getting them done and doesn’t always turn them in on time, if ever.
She goes to the same school my son attended ten years ago and had some of the same teachers. I also saw some of the same homework assignments. My biggest gripe was that they were busy work. Too many math problems. Too many worksheets. Lots of pain in the ass projects (actually, anything involving art peaked her interest – she’s very talented). Not enough feedback. Not enough instructions. Plus, she didn’t always write the assignments down in her agenda-mate (on purpose or careless?). There was no way to identify the homework until it was too late, even though there was an online communication system. She was not blameless, but the system didn’t help,either.
When is there time for the family? Why can’t she get to watch TV with her mom and dad? Extra curricular activities – the principal asked the parents to limit them (with regret). This year she’s studying with her step dad. She was failing, but got her grades up to a C again.
This is a beautiful, bright, talented young lady. The school system is failing her. The teachers (most of them) recognize her ability, but their hands are tied. There are grades for every aspect of her school life. Her grades are calculated on the computer. She has to conform or fail. It’s starting to bother her.
What have we done!
Educating the whole child seems to be lost these days. My children were fortunate to grow up in an era where they received a well rounded education and they are now thriving as young adults. Bravo for a well written letter. I hope Michelle reads it.
Do people write letters to puppets on television? Do people write questions to Elmo on Sesame Street? Do these people think that the puppets can write them back? Just wondering. Do people write letters to television characters? Do people think that the characters on TV are real? If you wrote a letter to Cookie Monster, do you think that he would write you back or that he could change the show in some way? A three year old might do this, but not an adult. I never understood this kind of letter writing. If I wanted “Sesame Street” to change I would have to find out who is writing the show (controlling the puppets), etc. Not that it would do any good. The person who controls “Sesame Street” knows exactly what he (or she) is doing. The puppets are doing exactly what he or she wants them to do. They’re just puppets.
To John at 12:07 AM, January 4th–clever analogy! Again, we have had a letter-writing campaign. Robert Rendo at 5 PM has correctly reiterated what happened in Chicago.
Actions speak louder than words that aren’t heard (or read). Parents, get groups of other like-minded parents together and protest this at your school. It HAS to be done locally and, as this wonderful, involved mother and educator is eloquent, use that voice to get others to save all of your children.
Why, if your son shouldn’t be holding a pencil ( as stated in the letter) did you not keep him back a year? Why did you send him when most students start kindergarten at 5? Why use such a bad example? Btw, my daughter started at 4, was diagnosed with fine motor delays, did hours and hours of homework all through her academic career. She was also in drama, cheerleading, and chorus- oh – and valedictorian. There are far more problems than homework under common core. Your argument lacks data and is based on emotion. Logical fallacies. Data gathering and usage would have made your point better, but I guess you don’t like those things.
Thank you so very, very much Jill, for expressing so simply and so poignantly your fears, concerns and frustration with what we see happening in our kindergarten classrooms.I am a K teacher in Newark, NJ (and a parent of 2 teenage boys) and what I cannot understand is why any clear-thinking, rational person/educational leader choose/mandate kindergarten curriculum and teaching methods that we know based on years and years of data and research on the 5-6 year old brain DO NOT WORK. Why would anyone give a child a 5 year old a math worksheet rather than allowing them to count Fruit Loops, or blocks, or pretend pizza slices in the Dramatic Play Center? Why would we move away from using methods which WE KNOW build a strong foundation for math and literacy in kindergarten? And which provide great JOY in children so that they love their first formal educational experience – and want to go to school? Homework in K should be language skills (“Ask your child which center they like the most and why.Be sure they are using complete sentences in their response.”) and play-based (“Bring or have a caretaker bring your child to a park or playground for at least 2 hours.).
In my appeal to Newark, NJ’s Mayor Cory Booker (now Senator Booker), someone who looks to be one of our nation’s up and coming leaders,I wrote the following on his FB wall and shared the link from your excellent Open Letter to the First Lady:
Mayor Booker – PLEASE read this open letter to Mrs. Obama and be a force in the effort to reverse some of the destructive and inappropriate things that are happening across the country in education. You are an intelligent, well-educated man. What do you remember about kindergarten? Did you learn literacy and math best when you were moving, singing, clapping, dancing, rhyming, building, painting, acting, pretending and creating? Or with worksheets? Worksheets were probably used infrequently when you were in kindergarten, and rightly so. As a K teacher in Newark, I would argue that 5-6 year olds shut down when they are not engaged in multi-sensory, experiential learning activities. Experiential activities and PLAY provide a rich learning environment for their success and achievement. But the problems in our educational system and the curricula are certainly not limited to K. They are systemic and seem to worsen with each grade level. Mayor Booker, we are counting on you!
Nicely said!
Wow, well put! Your voice is loud and clear and will hopefully help not just “pave the way” but lay new roads for all our children and granchildren for generations to come! Great job Jill!
Yes, Mrs. Obama has been known to throw in her two cents, but if you think her two cents on THIS issue of education are going to differ one hundredth from the official policy carried out by Arne Duncan you are deeply mistaken, in my estimation. She is as confused as he is about the real aims of education and as oblivious as he is to the deep damage the administration is doing to the black community, along with every other community in America except the Wall Street Rich—liberal and conservative alike. Like the President, she too is a product of an elite ivy league progressive education, whose members see themselves as smarter and therefore better than the common people. They have made it but they think intrinsically, “I know better, so I’m entitled to better,” and the rest of the American people with their God and guns are dirt, rednecks intrinsically, with no more right to be heard or be happy than ducks and stones. Or at least, that’s how I see them, and it has nothing to do with their race, which is more or less accidental with them. White ivy league idiots like them are a dime a dozen in Cambridge and Washington. Deny it if you can.
I prefer to think of them as misguided, listening to the wrong people. They aren’t the only ones blinded by the rhetoric. Some of us feel that if we can convince people like Mrs. Obama about the dangers of this new educational reform, there might be some push back.
We might be wearing rose colored glasses, but I prefer that to your jaded point of view. It hard to live without any hope for the future.
Ellen,
Misguided?
Oy vey isht mir!
But I do think to live without hope is counterproductive. Great point.
There you go, that wasn’t so hard, was it? See, you can express pretty much the same sentiment without the racist plantation language. There’s hope for you yet, Harlan.
I feel compelled to comment here just once more. To underscore what some of us here have been repeatedly saying–even before the forum of Diane’s blog–PLEASE forget about POTUS, FLOTUS and Arnie. You have only to read the most recent Game Change (2012–Doubling Down) to see that NOWHERE in the campaign does education even come up as a primary issue. Yes, Duncan was mentioned–on one page, & it was about something that had nothing to do (as I recall) with educational concerns. What would be most beneficial to you, Jill, to your child, and for all the other children in your school (and district) who are suffering would be to follow Helen Gym’s lead. (Read Diane’s post today–“Helen Gym, Philadelphia’s Parent Hero.”
Read the link—it will tell you what she’s done and how to do it.
“Actions speak louder than words.” (Certainly more so than writing to POTUS and FLOTUS!) Good luck!!
Jill–please read a newer post I wrote. It ended up somewhere amongst all the comments to Harlan Underhill, but should have been at the bottom (newest–hot off the presses at 9:36 PM, ET). Again, good luck to you!
In NYC, the cut-off for kindergarten enrollment is December 31st. I wanted to hold my son back a year (September 29th birthday), but was told that this is not allowed. So he started at age 4 too. I had no choice in the matter.
I have wanted to write to the First Lady for sometime. She is passionate about healthy foods our children ingest. She should be just as aware of what her husband and Arne are doing to their minds.
Jill, your open letter is great and well put. Unfortunately, there are no ears in Washington to listen the warning of the public to the politicians. Money and power play far too heavily on policies in education and in every aspect of our lives. Healthcare, tax laws, insurance and education and foreign policy…it seems there are no moral or philosophical arguments that can stand up to the corrupting influence of power and money.
What is sad is kids are no longer kids but little carbon copies of adults. When I grew up after dinner everyone went outdoors to play all kinds of games. It was all, clean good fun. We’d come home exhausted, sweaty and sleep like logs.
Drive down any residential street and no kids playing outdoors. Each having computers, texting, little islands unto themselves, and families not eating together. So sad.
I cannot remember anything I learned in first or second grade. Cursive writing in third only. Some Viking history in 4th. Frankly, what I would have liked to learn throughout school was about finances, saving money, investing, balancing a check book, raising kids, and more about communicating my needs to my mate.
I am 77 and I have a young friend who has been a second grade teacher for 23 years. I was absolutely APPALLED at the strict learning program for her second graders this year.
I am appalled also at these programs teaching babies to read at some ridiculous age, 13 months is it?
the whole world is upside down and so is the purpose of kids going to school. To learn social graces, share, abide by rules, respect self and others. All of life is about rules and that what we learn in school, but kids are meant to have fun, create, play,and not be stressed to the max and suffer anxiety.
When I was in high school, NO ONE became pregnant. NO drugs. Girls wore skirts, boys pants. If you were sick you were sent home. teachers were called Mr.or Mrs. etc. You wrote 5,000 essays if you talked back, or marred your desk. Later homework was neat
and thrown away to do over if messy.
No one freaked out. We loved our years at highschool.
Gee, Ben Franklin left school at second grade. Many great writers, people left early.
No one had died in my high school.
When my sons were in high school they were pall bearers 6x by the time they graduated.
And, even when younger, I told my sons, as you get older you will see more and more
suicides amongst your peers. This came to pass.
We must begin to see that something is radically wrong in education for so many deaths, suicides, pills, meds, etc. Something is TERRIBLY wrong.
You are absolutely, positively right on all of this. Indeed, the world IS upside down! Imagine how happy I was the other night when my 15 year old son said, “You know, our vacation was wonderful. And I think it’s because we weren’t all using electronics the whole time. So tonight, why don’t we play a board game?” And we proceeded to play “Life” for the next 2 hours. Of course, I ended up a teacher making very little money :). I think it’s so important for people who know better, like you, to express these opinions whenever you can. And for parents and teachers it is our responsibility to do parent and teach the way we KNOW is best. (Like learning through PLAY in kindergarten.) You are so right on, Scribe 77!!
I commend this effort to rally the First Lady behind education reform (or return, depending on how you look at it ;). It is vital, now more than ever.
But I can not emphasize enough that no matter what happens within the walls of the school building, the onus is on PARENTS to ensure that education is a part of natural child development from day 1 in a way that is fun, hands-on and stress free.
Parents need to play outside with their children to set an example that running around and making up imaginative games is good, healthy fun. They need to sit on the floor with their children and build with blocks to set an example for problem solving and creativity.
They need to put down the digital devices and pick up a book or magazine and show children that reading is an important – and enjoyable – way to learn.
SO much of this is about the parents and how WE approach education. A positive attitude and more importantly, positive action at home will set the foundation for how our children approach learning & life.
Mrs. Obama does not live in my house.
My husband and I do. Education starts with US — first and foremost.
I commend this effort to rally the First Lady behind education reform (or return, depending on how you look at it ;). It is vital, now more than ever.
But I can not emphasize enough that no matter what happens within the walls of the school building, the onus is on PARENTS to ensure that education is a part of natural child development from day 1 in a way that is fun, hands-on and stress free.
Parents need to play outside with their children to set an example that running around and making up imaginative games is good, healthy fun. They need to sit on the floor with their children and build with blocks to set an example for problem solving and creativity.
They need to put down the digital devices and pick up a book or magazine and show children that reading is an important – and enjoyable – way to learn.
SO much of this is about the parents and how WE approach education. A positive attitude and more importantly, positive action at home will set the foundation for how our children approach learning & life.
Mrs. Obama does not live in my house. My husband and I do. This is on US first and foremost.