Paraphrasing Martin Luther King, Jr., the commissioner said: “In a real sense, this afternoon, we can say that our feet are tired, but our souls are rested.
“Change is hard,” he continued. “It is challenging, and it is tiring, but the goal, their goal, was to advance the cause of civil rights. Our goal is to advance the cause of civil rights through educational justice, through ensuring that all of our students have access to the richest possible instruction that prepares them to succeed when they graduate from high school, in college and careers, and prepares them to be good citizens.
“It will be hard; it will continue to be tiring,” he said. “I am sure there are some sore feet in the room. It will continue to be tiring, but we must remain laser-focused on the outcome we seek for our students.”
Watch here (the Civil Rights talk starts at 17:13).
Here's Dr. King's schedule for today (that's John King, not Martin Luther King Jr.):
At 1 p.m., state Education Commissioner John King delivers speech on anniversary of Brown v. Board of Education, Rockefeller Institute of Government, 411 State St., Albany.
Anybody want to bet an APPR artifact that King recycles some of the same boilerplate from the last speech about how the fight for education reform/Common Core is much like the fight for civil rights for this speech today?
The past month has been quite difficult. I have watched my 2 children become anxious, nervous, and obsessed with concerns of the State tests they took in our hometown in Westchester. It is a fact that next year at this time, both my children will be opting out of all State tests. My neighbors as well. It's a done deal and I feel relieved to know that an entire year from now, the decision has been made already. The opt out numbers next year will be embarrassing to King. The numbers will be staggering.
ReplyDeleteThat's great to hear. That will get their attention.
DeleteWhere do you start in describing these people?
ReplyDeleteDo you begin by talking about their insufferable arrogance when comparing themselves - puppets and errand boys of the Overclass - to the heroes of the Civil Rights movement?
Or do you begin with their jaw-dropping dishonesty, whereby the takeover of a priceless public resource and the relegation of public school students to second-class citizenship is marketed as "the civil right movement of our time?"
Or is it their thievery, diverting billions of dollars from the classroom to a profiteering test-and-punish infrastructure?
Where do you begin describing the viciousness of it all?
And of course a mostly complaint corporate press to spread their p.r.
DeleteI describe them as the Blackstone type mercenary class of the ed. Complex wing of the Warlord class...heartless,pitiless...ruthless...
ReplyDeleteThat's a good analogy. Mercenaries for the plutocrats.
DeleteThe same arrogance that wants to take away pensions, destroy social security, change medicare funding, keep taxes low on the very wealthy. Same destructive hubris that appointed Penny Pritzker Secretary of Commerce.
ReplyDeleteYou name it. The plutocrats want it all.
When do we draw the line?
They want it all, they're getting it all, and even if we draw the line, it seems that they bring the "security apparatus" in to fix it.
DeleteJohn King. - you want the truth? You can't handle the truth!
ReplyDeleteSo, keep on going with your delusions of competence.
He surrounds himself with sycophants, so all he hears is delusion. Same goes for many reformers.
Delete