Governor Wolf, Stop the McDonaldization of our schools!
When citizens contact our elected officials they sometimes say that they had no idea people cared about the issue. They sometimes say that no one had even brought it up to them. A friend of mine felt a bit frustrated about that and decided to write this petition. Please read it and consider signing it.
There is so much I like in it, but here is just a sample:
"We are seeing our leading districts (top in the USA) being dismantled. We are experiencing power being taken away from parents and local school boards where "we the people" have a voice. Parents must always have a voice. There must be accountability. Federalizing education is wrong. Curricula should be decided locally where parents and teachers best know the academic needs of their children. School boards are accountable to voters/parents. Corporations are not. This is highly problematic. The founders were very wise in setting up the system of separation of powers and the system of checks and balances. Pearson -- a UK Company --lobbied the Governors Association to usurp our system. It is unacceptable for local and state power established in our system to be usurped by lobbying powers and the very notion is a threat to our young republic."
"As Governor of Pennsylvania, throw out the whole Pennsylvania Common Core and high stakes standardized testing. Do not "rebrand" it. Get rid of it for good. The entire premise is corporately motivated without accountability to the public -- we the people -- but with access to public dollars. It is wrong and at the expense of our children. The publishing company Pearson has a great sales pitch. It's well honed which why it has gone as far as it has and as quickly as has. However, the pitch versus the practice is something different altogether. The very notion of one size fits all education is flawed. Each child is unique. Each child has different strengths and weaknesses. We all do. That's what makes our country strong. We aren't all one size fits all identically thinking drones and nor should we be. What makes this country great is that it allows differences in thought and celebrates that and our economy has fostered from that. We absolutely must celebrate intellectualism and the need for it. Quality education is the key. However, the overarching macro McDonaldization of conveyer belt education is highly problematic and anti-intellectual as well as down right boring!"
She wrote it to go directly to the top - to our new Governor, Tom Wolf. Diane Ravitch thinks our governor may be just the person we need to return education to the people - to us. She thinks he gives us reasons for hope. Read about it here.
President Obama promised us hope, but didn't deliver on education...
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