A letter from a reader about Governor Cuomo’s plan to “reform” education:

My name is Adam C. Bergstein; I am a tax-paying voter, a proud parent of a child in the NY public school system, and I also happen to teach in Queens, at Forest Hills HS. I would like to address my concerns regarding Andrew Cuomo’s blatant and intentional war that he has waged against public education. We need to have an honest discussion about the ramifications of his actions against the most vulnerable members in our society, children. If Andrew Cuomo’s draconian measures are ratified, the very root of American democracy, the great equalizer known as public education will be eradicated, and not just for months, or years, but for generations.

Here in NY, instead of Wayne’s World, we get Cuomo’s World, and this is what it will resemble: Every school shall, in essence, become a state-run testing center; where any notion of creativity will have been eliminated. Creativity will be replaced with test anxiety. Instead of relishing and anticipating school, children will despise learning, because their days will be filled with test-prep and more test-prep and very little else. The fact that Andrew Cuomo doesn’t care that his proposed changes will destroy everything good about an education, clearly spells out what he thinks about parents and schoolchildren throughout NY State.

Andrew Cuomo’s proposed changes not only disrespects the teachers and schools, it simultaneously disrespects the children and their parents. It disrespects them because it says a child does not deserve the right to learn the trumpet, or speak Italian, or take b/w photographs. It says your child is only good enough to bubble in answer sheets, day in and day out. Andrew Cuomo’s plan implies all children fit the same cookie-cutter mold, regardless of how they think, or act or express themselves. But here is what Andrew Cuomo does not seem to comprehend; children are not a one-size-fits-all model. It is their uniqueness and their passions and their interests that make them so special. However, all Andrew Cuomo’s plan does is reward uniformity while punishing creative thinking and individualism. His plan will use our tax dollars to support, fund and encourage the privatized, corporate test-prep culture. And that is just unacceptable.

Andrew Cuomo, a man who failed the bar four times, has no problem raising the bar so high, that it is our children’s future that is destined to fail. His high-stakes testing mentality is nothing more than a high-stakes bet against what our children need most, an environment that nurtures learning; in a safe, hospitable classroom.

His desire for power has emboldened him to use our children as pawns in his political game to control public education. He will blackmail already cash-strapped school districts, by holding their budgets hostage through the legislative process. And unfortunately, while he is morally bankrupt, it is our school system that will be left financially bankrupt.

From one parent to another, how does this man not comprehend the fact that children are not automatons, designed to run through one test maze after another. Students are not items to be placed within a ledger; they are not gains or losses on a balance sheet. They are not poker chips to be gambled with, but if Andrew Cuomo’s plans should be adopted, and implemented, that is exactly what the schoolchildren throughout NY State will become, a double-down and an ante up. His actions treat our children like cattle in feedlot. They’ll be measured, assessed, and then passed through the system with a number tag identifying them as a liability or an asset. My daughter and my students are not statistical calculations. They are not a number to be counted, so his friends can eventually privatize education and make our children part of a profit margin. My child and the millions of students throughout this state are not for sale and are not to be traded like a stock.

One example of how Andrew Cuomo’s plan will affect high schools, is the way students’ schedules are programmed. School administrators will have to make the painful decision to eliminate most electives, such as Art, Foreign Language, PE and Music, in order to create additional English and Math test prep classes. These cuts would simply be a result of how Andrew Cuomo tragically and erroneously misinterprets public education as nothing more than a game of test score percentages. Children, will become the collateral damage of the sacrifices that every school will be forced to make, just to appease Andrew Cuomo’s far reaching ignorance of what a public education is supposed to provide. What the children will gain by Andrew Cuomo’s plan is the importance of becoming another number, a drone to be counted and stacked and rated. What they will lose, is that opportunity to grow, think for themselves and become a bigger part of their community. This will all be done under the guise of reform. Sadly, we can see through his lie, and we know that he is desperately and woefully attempting to appear as a viable presidential candidate for 2016.

I’d like to tell you about S————-, J———-, N———, T———- and M———. These are teachers from my school that voluntarily and happily take on some of the most academically challenging students. They are the teachers who work with children who have special needs. These are students that are emotionally troubled, or have multiple learning disabilities, or are ELLs (or English Language Learners). These are the children that, in some instances, will show very little growth on a state mandated exam. Yet these teachers will fight, kick and claw to help their students excel, with absolutely no fear of a test score. However, I cannot say with certainty that these teachers will be so eager to take on those academically needy children. They may even be reluctant to teach these students, if they know it can lead to their dismissal and termination. And that is what Andrew Cuomo’s educational reform delivers, not results for children, not an environment that fosters learning, not a place where people love to be, but rather a state run institution that punishes those that love what they do, and punishes those that want to see their students thrive and grow. My very real fear is that this is what the educational landscape of NY State will transform into, should Andrew Cuomo’s plan become the law of the land.

On the other end of the spectrum, there is T———, J———, L——— and T———; they teach AP courses at my school. They share that same passion as the other teachers I mentioned; they too teach with an enthusiasm that can only be found in people who love what they do. They have some of the highest achieving students in our building. These are the students who take on additional coursework; the kids who yearn to excel; and who thrive under constant academic challenges. I also know they have taken on students who may not meet the criteria for an AP class, but they would sooner walk away from this profession then turn away a student who has a desire to learn. But, should Andrew Cuomo’s corrupt ideological philosophy become law, I don’t know if these teachers, who have mortgages, and families, will be so committed to take on students who can hurt and risk their job security.

That is why we need parents and teachers and elected officials and the schoolchildren to tell Andrew Cuomo to properly fund our schools, and leave public education to the professionals. Otherwise, all he will wind up doing is causing irrevocable intellectual harm; emotional and cognitive ruination and mental health damage to the children throughout this state.

Thank you,

Adam C. Bergstein

Vice President of Irresolute Empiricists