Jesse Hagopian of Garfield High School in Seattle wrote this speech for the protest at the gates of the Gates Foundation a few days ago:
“Comments from Jesse Hagopian For the Gates Foundation Protest:”
Teaching in the shadow of the Gates Foundation is an ominous and treacherous endeavor. Everywhere you turn there is another so-called “expert”, funded by the Gates foundation–with very little, if any classroom experience—who believes that their dollars have given them sense.
Gates believes in the right of the rich to control the schools and even the very idea of what knowledge is. We believe that education and knowledge should be democratic pursuits and that only through collaboration—not market competition—can we fully become complete human beings.
Gates believes the intellectual and social-emotional processes can and should be reduced to a test score. We believe standardized testing can’t begin to quantify the things that matter most in education: imagination, collaboration, civic courage, empathy, and creativity.
The problem for us is that Gates has a few more dollars than we have.
The problem for Gates is that we have a few more friends, co-workers, and students than he has.
The power of solidarity to defeat the powerful was on full display when teachers at Garfield High School—and then teachers around Seattle—refused to administer the Measures of Academic Progress ( or MAP) test. That struggle defeated the MAP test for high schools in Seattle and helped to ignite a movement around the nation, not only against high-stakes testing, but also to redefine the purpose of education beyond the confines of “career and college ready” to talk about education in pursuit of social justice.
I am sorry I cannot be with you in person today as I am in Omaha sharing the lessons of this growing movement and meeting new people who want to join it. I am excited to say that we are currently in the midst of the biggest uprising against high-stakes testing in U.S. history.
And when the last bubble test is thrown into the dumpster; when our libraries and computer labs are liberated from Pearson tests and can again be used again for research, inquiry, and incubators of imagination; When our schools cease to rank and sort our children and instead become centers of empowerment; you all here today will be remembered as having stared down the self appointed Testocracy Tsar, Bill Gates, and having said to him loud and clear: “our schools are not for sale!”
Jesse co
Diane Ravitch's blog 
I agree that to be competitive in education is to feed the misconception that only the strong survive. Those who want to make education a competition forget that every genius who has come and gone may have been a genius in one area, but were complete dunces in many others. Einstein could not tie his shoes and had a problem with attention. He also lacked social skills that most others are proficient at and tended to be apprehensive around the general populace. At times, he even proved to be inadequate as a husband and father, his wife eventually separating from and divorcing him, and his children mourning the fact that their father was often cold and distant, even though he really wasn’t, but was unsure of himself as a father. I am sure I could name many other examples. some good in science, but poor in math. some excellent in math but poor in science. the same goes for philosophers and other intellectuals. some excel in certain areas, but fail in others. there is no “perfect” educational system, only one that should be user friendly.
How do we spread this to Ohio?
The following organizations represent a sample of those who received money from Bill Gates to promote the Common Core. When they weigh in on the issue, consider who’s paying them: American Enterprise Institute: $1,068,788; American Federation of Teachers: $5,400,000; Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development: $3,269,428; Council of Great City Schools: $5,010,988; Education Trust: $2,039,526; National Congress of Parents and Teachers: $499,962; National Education Association: $3,982,597; Thomas B. Fordham Institute: $1,961,116.
And that is just for starters. He is still giving out money and has targeted public higher education.
Yes. This is very scary, Laura H. Chapman.
Exactly!
Six or seven years ago, I went with my superintendent and several colleagues and school board members on a fact finding junket to Indianapolis. The Indianapolis city schools were in the second year of reorganization under the aegis of Gates Foundation funding. Our super was entertaining the notion of soliciting Gates funding for our own system, and we wanted to see and hear what the implications were from a variety of points of view. The experience was akin to two-and-a-half days of having been dropped into the middle of a dysfunctional extended family, with a phalanx of social workers and psychologists living with them. The first four paragraphs of the Hagopian quote above are dead on the money…pun intended.
NEVER, EVER believe anything Gates says. He’s a well…fill in the blanks. Don’t be fooled by his money and bad products.
“Testocracy” Love. It.
This post reminded me of Neil Postman’s and Charles Weingartner’s book entitled Teaching as a Subversive Activity, published in the late 1960’s. I believe every teacher should read it as a prerequisite for stepping foot in a classroom.
I’ll second the Weingartner – Postman read! Charles Weingartner came to my school to conduct an after-school workshop, back in the Eighties. I was one of only three who showed up for it. Another should-be-required read is Bob Samples’ “The Metaphoric Mind.”
Interesting comments Jesse – FYI – it was many from the Washington Bad Ass Teachers who worked MONTHS to put this event together. I was there from Westlake, down 4th, over to 5th, to the front of Gate$-ILL-Vain-IA, carrying my sign.
The WABATS who worked on this event didn’t leave stuff to the last minute, and therefore showed what “Organizing” is about – lots of grunt work, ahead of time, making sure lots of details happen when they’re supposed to.
R. Murphy
rmurphy12 BATs across the country are extremely grateful to the Washington State Badass Teachers for staging this protest. In solidarity, R. Brooks