CA student takes on Michelle Rhee's ed reform. Kudos Hannah Nguyen.

[madfloridian]

Student takes on Michelle Rhee

Hi everyone, my name is Hannah, I’m a student… Just a few things though, I felt like this whole event was very much looking at these educational policy issues as a reformers versus teacher unions kind of issue, and as a student standing here and watching this battle it is really disheartening, because it’s a lot deeper than that, and these are everyday realities.

...And there’s a lot of things brought up — going back to poverty — reformers say that poverty isn’t destiny, and that sounds great, and I believe in that, and that’s awesome. But you know what, if you really care about students, you should say that poverty shouldn’t be.

Yes, we need to work on in-school factors, and simultaneously we need to work on out-of-school factors and caring about the whole child.
Back to high stakes testing. I don’t know a single student — I’m sorry, I have a lot of friends, and I have friends at other schools too — I don’t know a single student who says that they learned something from a high-stakes test, and the way that their school is structured. They should be given the freedom to learn what they want to learn, open curriculum, well-rounded, arts, music, humanities….

Hannah says choice can be a good thing, but she is highly critical of charters that push out low-performing students.

Hannah Nguyen ?@hbnguyen18

Oh my goodness, I'm on the Answer Sheet... Is this the real life...

I am noticing a turnaround in the public's view of the reformers. Parents are realizing these "reformers" intend to undermine public school systems in our country.

I feel now that those of us who have been writing about the harm being done by this administration's policies under Arne Duncan have been vindicated. Maybe it was worth all the vitriol directed at us to see this turning around of mindsets.

[chervilant]

1. Thank you for this post.

More people need to hear what Sir Ken Robinson has to say. Michelle Rhee and Bill Gates are NOT "saving" public education!

[madfloridian]

2. You are right. They are harming public education greatly.

[DiverDave]

3. It's easier to steal from an uneducated person.

Oh, and the saying that smart people dont know it all...Just makes me wanna strangle somebody.
Disdain for education is a core principle for the overlords

[blackspade]

4. This awesome young lady layed the hammer down....

on this whole school 'reform' bullshit.

[madfloridian]

5. Yes, she did that for sure.

It was refreshing.