New Mexico high school students stage a walk out to protest standardized testing

“The test is taking away students’ opportunities to learn in their optimal state and it’s taking away teachers’ opportunity to teach how they teach best,” said Daniel Schilling, a junior at Highland High School who walked out Monday morning.

About 60 to 70 students protested the test at Highland High School, following a large protest by teachers before school early in the morning. Students at Highland lined the sidewalk in front of the school holding signs and chanting “say no to PARCC!”

New Mexico high school students stage a walk out to protest standardized testing

Seeing stories like this makes me feel all giddy inside. Especially when said story pertains to our public school system. A system that seems to be solely designed around pumping out droves of unquestioning, medicated, and uneducated individuals.

Let me know what you think ATS'ers. Is this something that's going to spark a national movement or just an isolated incident that will soon be forgotten and tossed aside as just another thing that happened. I cant imagine there are very many people that are happy with how education is handled in the United States, teachers and students alike. And looking at where its going mass walk outs are exactly what is required to ignite some sort of change.

a reply to: AVoiceOfReason

I couldn't agree more.

My seven year old is taking the "Common Core Curriculum". The approaches that it takes are so obscure, it is downright silly. To be honest, I'm concerned that if I attempt to teach my daughter how I approach math, that it'll be held against her. Such as a scenario where they are asked to "show their work" on a math problem. I'm genuinely concerned that whereas the answer would be correct, they would mark the answer as being wrong because she didn't follow "their way" of doing it.

I'm being forced as a father to review her homework, and validate that what they are teaching her is not only correct, but done so in a way that she can actually follow suit.

This being said, WHERE ARE OUR TAX DOLLARS GOING? Sure, they're going to the common core curriculum, but if it ends up not being effective, then the money may as well be burned instead. And the end result is a student who's time was wasted...time when they are their prime capacity for learning.

a reply to: nullafides

Yes being a parent with the way public school is handled these days must carry a lot of pressure. Schools act more and more as oppressive state guardians of children rather than an environment to nurture their knowledge and creativity. And if a parent happens to get in the way of that they are attacked. Its sad, but i hope protests like these continue so that something is done about it.

This being said, WHERE ARE OUR TAX DOLLARS GOING? Sure, they're going to the common core curriculum, but if it ends up not being effective, then the money may as well be burned instead.

Well the US pretty much runs on programs that are designed to fail from the get go. The NSA gathering everyone's data makes it impossible to sift through it all. the f35 is a huge multi billion dollar flying # brick. On could go on and on about some of these endeavors.

a reply to: nullafides

I think common core will eventually go the same way as Muchel'ls school nutrition program. Both will have to fail miserably with millions spent and children's time and education wasted in the process first though. I think some schools are already opting out of both programs. I know that isn't much encouragement for you though since your child is suffering through that crap now.

Read an article not long ago where a total of 16 children out of the entire Philadelphia school district passed the SAT last year and one had to take it twice.

a reply to: CharlesT

I truly hope that the opting out continues. If we could afford to do it, I'd wish my wife or I could homeschool our daughter. I hate the thought of that as I believe it is not good due to severely limiting social contact with children. But, it DOES allow you to work with your child and ensure that they actually UNDERSTAND how to do things...


My issue with "we expect you to do things our way to get the right answer" is this. I am a computer programmer. I can tell you with 100% certainty, give a room of 50 programmers a single problem, and you'll come up with at least 50 different plausible ways to resolve the problem. To think that there is only ONE way to approach a problem is to stunt learning.

As a result, I now have to teach my daughter two things. First, how to do it THEIR way. Second, how to find her own way to correctly answer a problem. Both are valid, but not so in the eyes of common core.

I hope this takes off.

"The Bartleby Project begins by inviting 60,000,000 American students, one by one, to peacefully refuse to take standardized tests or to participate in any preparation for these tests; it asks them to act because adults chained to institutions and corporations are unable to; because these tests pervert education, are disgracefully inaccurate, impose brutal stresses without reason, and actively encourage a class system which is poisoning the future of the nation." Read John Taylor Gatto's full statement on the Bartleby Project (it's long).

www.bartlebyproject.com...

For those who haven't heard of John Taylor Gatto, here's a snippet of him:



And a much longer snippet:



And PDFs of a couple of his excellent books:

Weapons of Mass Instruction

An Underground History of American Education

I just opted out for my 8th grader and will for my 11th grader as well. From what I've been hearing, this is a completely useless test, and large numbers are opting out in our school district. At my older son's school, a testing group of 30 kids may only have 5 show up for the test.

My niece in elementary has told me that they are given two hours to answer 10 questions. When they are finished, no matter how much time they have left, they must sit quietly doing absolutely nothing. They are not even allowed to read quietly or do homework.

Kids are being told their test will have 30 questions and are only receiving 7-10 questions.

There has been trouble with the testing system. The system crashes mid test, and all the students work is lost. They must start the test over from the beginning.

Many kids at the high school and jr high level have learned that this test is very easy to cheat on. You can simply open task manager to minimize the test window and google for answers.

We already have state standardized testing every year, PARCC is redundant and a waste of class time.

meanwhile home schooling numbers continue to grow.

a reply to: nullafides

Well, I think the success of home schooling is dependent on the individual but I have a sister that home schooled her daughter and the kid turned out to be a brain with multiple scholarship offers. But on the other hand, I have another sister that tried home schooling her daughter and it didn't work out at all. She ended up going to public school and is turning out to being a brain. Go figure. Depending on the age of your child, talk to him/her. you might be surprised what you find out.

a reply to: CharlesT

The only true concern I have with home schooling is that the children miss out on socialization. Just as important as the education, IMHO.

a reply to: nullafides

I understand. The daughter that was home schooled turned out fine and exceptionally mature for her age but as I said, it's all in the individual.

originally posted by: nullafides
a reply to: CharlesT

The only true concern I have with home schooling is that the children miss out on socialization. Just as important as the education, IMHO.

That's why a smart parent will enroll their child in one class such as a foreign language or have them participate in extracurricular activities such as drama or sports or any number of clubs at school.

originally posted by: StoutBroux

originally posted by: nullafides
a reply to: CharlesT

The only true concern I have with home schooling is that the children miss out on socialization. Just as important as the education, IMHO.

That's why a smart parent will enroll their child in one class such as a foreign language or have them participate in extracurricular activities such as drama or sports or any number of clubs at school.

Uh huh.

So, a smart parent who is concerned that their child may not be getting the socialization needed will opt to put them in approximately 25% of the socialization that a child gets from going to a normal school.

Sure, I get ya.

I think this test is BS. Why are ANY elementary students taking a test to see if they are ready for college? They are not ready to cross the street without an adult! My son is only 9, has special needs, AND he happens to have strep throat but they want him there to take the damn test this week. My child was HOSPITALIZED very recently with this continuing illness and a really bad reaction (Stevens-Johnson Syndrome) to his medicine, but they want me to bring him in a few hours everyday to test with an illness and fever because he is not "sick enough". They have a "special" class room for him too. NOPE. Not gonna happen.

a reply to: AVoiceOfReason

Also, my school scored TWO Ds and an F in the areas that regard my son and I'm seriously considering home school until we can move. a reply to: Jaxsmash