http://www.commondreams.org/view/2011/09/09-10
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Sep 9 2011 - 8:55pm
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Sep 9 2011 - 9:30pm
I couldn't have said it much better myself. When you hear Newt Gingrich-FOX type Tea-B____s talk about reverence for the so-called founding-fathers [many / most of whom were slave-owners], the Original intent of the constitution [as you pointed out sanctioned slavery & idea that Blacks were 3/5ths of a human-being as well restricted both who could vote & who could run for office, -&- the Electorial College {remember in 2000 Gore won the people's vote by 550,000 -BUT- Bush & his little bro Jeb stole FL insuring he won the Electorial College Vote], rolling back or abolishing the 14th [& 15th] Amendment - WATCH OUT!
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http://www.commondreams.org/view/2012/03/13-4
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http://www.commondreams.org/view/2012/03/13-4
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Mar 13 2012 - 7:04pm
This is the Article's key quote: }' Standardized testing entered the public schools in the 1900s as a way to graft scientific management models used in assembly line production onto the classroom by Taylorists and Eugenicists—the pseudo scientists that believed intelligence is genetic and that whites were biologically superior to other races or ethnic groups. Au writes,
“Looking back to its origins in the Eugenics movement, Standardized testing provided the technological apparatus for the functioning of the production model of education….It is no coincidence that I.Q testing, Eugenics and standardized testing all become prominent during the same period....”
While these {phony Education reformers} claim to be part of a 21st century civil rights movement for education—advocating policies they insist are specifically designed to close the achievement gap—the standardized tests they demand were designed by RACIST pseudo-scientists of the early 20th century. As NAACP founder W.E.B. DuBois wrote,
“It was not until I was long out of school- after the WWI that there came the use of the new technique of psychological tests, which were quickly adjusted so as to put Black folk absolutely beyond the possibility of civilization.”
The SAT exam was developed by Carl Bringham—the Army psychologist and RACIST Eugenicist who used WWI data to declare that whites born inside the US were the most intelligent of all peoples and that immigrants were genetically inferior. Contrary to the assertions of corporate education reformers [actually DeFormers].., there is nothing innovative about advocacy for standardized testing; it is merely the repackaging of Eugenics for the “post racial” era where it is passé to espouse racist ideas. American society today—from the prisons to the schools—is dominated by Institutional RACISM! The purpose of standardized tests are the same as they were then: to categorize, sort, and rank Black students, students of color, and working class kids at the bottom, while demonstrating the intellectual superiority of the wealthy and white students who score better on the tests.' {
This Explains IT ALL- This Is why these Phony Education reformers [= DeFormers] Insist on these standardized tests- which they can then use as a Hatchet to break inner city public schools, their teachers & their unions! THIS IS NO MISTAKE! One would have thought in the many articles on NCLB / RTTT Education DeForm posted here @ CD & else-where that this info would have talked about & documented clearly [as the author does here]. Talk about slickly playing the 'Race-Card'!
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“Looking back to its origins in the Eugenics movement, Standardized testing provided the technological apparatus for the functioning of the production model of education….It is no coincidence that I.Q testing, Eugenics and standardized testing all become prominent during the same period....”
While these {phony Education reformers} claim to be part of a 21st century civil rights movement for education—advocating policies they insist are specifically designed to close the achievement gap—the standardized tests they demand were designed by RACIST pseudo-scientists of the early 20th century. As NAACP founder W.E.B. DuBois wrote,
“It was not until I was long out of school- after the WWI that there came the use of the new technique of psychological tests, which were quickly adjusted so as to put Black folk absolutely beyond the possibility of civilization.”
The SAT exam was developed by Carl Bringham—the Army psychologist and RACIST Eugenicist who used WWI data to declare that whites born inside the US were the most intelligent of all peoples and that immigrants were genetically inferior. Contrary to the assertions of corporate education reformers [actually DeFormers].., there is nothing innovative about advocacy for standardized testing; it is merely the repackaging of Eugenics for the “post racial” era where it is passé to espouse racist ideas. American society today—from the prisons to the schools—is dominated by Institutional RACISM! The purpose of standardized tests are the same as they were then: to categorize, sort, and rank Black students, students of color, and working class kids at the bottom, while demonstrating the intellectual superiority of the wealthy and white students who score better on the tests.' {
This Explains IT ALL- This Is why these Phony Education reformers [= DeFormers] Insist on these standardized tests- which they can then use as a Hatchet to break inner city public schools, their teachers & their unions! THIS IS NO MISTAKE! One would have thought in the many articles on NCLB / RTTT Education DeForm posted here @ CD & else-where that this info would have talked about & documented clearly [as the author does here]. Talk about slickly playing the 'Race-Card'!
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Mar 13 2012 - 2:07pm
One could Say Occupy rose out of the ashes of the wto protests in Seattle over a decade ago.
Way to go Occupy!
And as an aside - the gates foundation pushes their 'grants' to education - of course that means charging schools $400 for an IPAD and then granting a 'subsidy' that's actually a Tax Writeoff.
An IPAD may be nice for surfing the web from your couch but it can't touch the computing power or the aps available on a true lPtop computer which you can get for less than the $400 -
Bad investment and the IPAD is just another way to dumb down the public.
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Way to go Occupy!
And as an aside - the gates foundation pushes their 'grants' to education - of course that means charging schools $400 for an IPAD and then granting a 'subsidy' that's actually a Tax Writeoff.
An IPAD may be nice for surfing the web from your couch but it can't touch the computing power or the aps available on a true lPtop computer which you can get for less than the $400 -
Bad investment and the IPAD is just another way to dumb down the public.
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Mar 14 2012 - 4:28am
The credit should actually go to this author, Jesse Hagopian, for bringing out this info & talking straight about this issue [People have often been hinting at this, but have seldom come out 'Straight-No Chaser' as has Mr Hagopian in this article {see my below comment on these tests original intent}.].
So The original {& likely still} intent of these so-called 'standardized' tests - Was NOT to honestly assess where students are in their studies & what areas of study might need to be focused on for improvement. BUT- Rather to so-called 'objectively & scientifically' give the 'inherent seal of achievement' to designated groups {IE: the white & affluent} while casting other groups {IE: Blacks, Browns & the poor} as social misfits- inherently lacking in intelligence!!! Thus if that's what these test were originally designed to do from the get-go - Why is it surprising that it's been repeatedly shown that's exactly what they do!
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So The original {& likely still} intent of these so-called 'standardized' tests - Was NOT to honestly assess where students are in their studies & what areas of study might need to be focused on for improvement. BUT- Rather to so-called 'objectively & scientifically' give the 'inherent seal of achievement' to designated groups {IE: the white & affluent} while casting other groups {IE: Blacks, Browns & the poor} as social misfits- inherently lacking in intelligence!!! Thus if that's what these test were originally designed to do from the get-go - Why is it surprising that it's been repeatedly shown that's exactly what they do!
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Mar 13 2012 - 7:09pm
Of course, the corporatization and privatization of education is another scheme for the 1% to profit from and gain control over another part of society. Somehow it's held that when a service is privatized-----that is, when users of the service pay not only for the service itself (as when it is provided by the government, which does not expect to realize a massive profit), but also for the profits of the new private-sector overlords (who want as much profit as possible)---then everything is more "efficient." And it IS very efficient---if one doesn't recognize the profits of the corporate overlords as the sheer waste it certainly is, since any money that engorges their bank accounts is money NOT spent providing the service to anyone. The blaming of teachers for all ills, for all students who don't learn or aren't motivated, is simply another attempt to make society more authoritarian and heirarchical, by placing teachers completely under the domination of their superiors in rank, to wit, administrators. But, if one is going to blame teachers for the failure of students, then why not blame administrators for the failures of teachers, and fire them instead, for their failure properly to motivate and mold teachers into great instructors? After all, teachers are supposed to be able to do this with students, so principals, etc., should be able to do it with teachers. Hence, administrators should have no more right to "fire" teachers than teachers have to fire students. Rather, they should have the responsibility and the ability to motivate teachers and make them great pedagogues, in the same way teachers are supposed to have the responsibility to motivate students and make them great learners.
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Instead of Just FL- Boycott Corps that Were / Are Part of ALEC
Nixakliel - 04/19/2012 - 09:23
Due to the bad PR in the wake of Trayvon's
unfortunate murder, several key Corps have recently announced they are departing
ALEC- which along w the NRA & WALMART [the US'
largest gun retailer] helped draft & push these 'Shoot First &
Ask Questions Later' [especially if the victim is Black or Brown] Laws.
Thus ALEC now claims it's disbanding
its task force that's been responsible for pushing these controversial laws
[in about 24 States- so it ain't just about FL] as well as so-called 'Voter ID'
[= voter supression] laws. The current un-PC / bad PR re: being affiliated w
ALEC- is due to the Public's outrage over Trayvon's Murder & the role of
FL's 'Stand Your Ground Law' in Zimmerman's phony self-defense claim
-&- has lead to corps IE: Coca-Cola,
Pepsi, McDonald's, Wendy’s, Mars [Candy], Kraft Foods, Intuit,
etc [& the Gates Foundation claims it'll NOW
Stop Funding ALEC]- backing off of ALEC [for
now]- who many of their customers are Black & Brown. Other key ALEC
affilated Corps include AT&T, Johnson & Johnson and State
Farm. IMO if these calls for boycotts are serious, we need to
boycott as many of these ALEC affilated corps [whether or not they're still w
ALEC] as is feasible while making some really serious demands [Jumping
ship NOW that they've been exposed ain't good enough- Why did they even join
w ALEC in the first place when they knew that ALECs prog
included laws that would negatively effect these corps' Black & Brown
customers??!!] or even w the intent of putting some of them out
of BIZ! Because there are other good reasons to boycott
Walmart, Coke, Pepsi & McDonald's, Wendy's, Mars Candy etc
ANYWAY beyond what their convenient PC / PR move can gloss-over
IE: Walmart's discriminatory practices against its women
{especially women of color} workers & wage suppression
tactics - AND Coke, Pepsi, McDonald's, Wendy's & Mars are
fast / junk food giants which help ruin the public's [especially our
people's] health, etc... And while we at it we should
seriously consider boycotting the phony choice between electing a corporate Dim
[Obama] & a corp Repug [Romney]- running for
POTUS!
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And of course blacks and women couldn't vote, no matter if they had property, or were free. Even today the constitution counts blacks as worth 3/5 of whites. I never understood why that wasn't taken out with the 13, 14, and 15th amendments.
MLK had started down the path of economic justice and anti-war rhetoric, so the rich had him killed. To make matters worse, they commissioned a Chinese artist to design (apparently there are no black artists in the entire US, I wonder what I have on the walls of my home, maybe I have been duped) his memorial and put the names of some of the worst corporations in the world on it. It does have some really powerful, but sick symbolism -- fight for economic justice and we will kill you, we will hire a Chinese artist to design your memorial just like we shipped all the jobs to China, and we will turn you into a white man by our choice of materials.