Why I Support The BATS and Their March On Washington D.C. #netde #eduDE

The BATS are a defining moment for America. The Badass Teachers Association stands for everything I believe in with education. Public education is much better than corporate reform. Our government wants us to believe parents should have the freedom to choose what schools our children go to, while silently manipulating us to choose charter schools. Public educators are the ones who reach our children, who push them and want the best. Not through rigorous high-stakes testing, but through filling their minds with knowledge to be creative and curious. They believe in something and they are willing to fight for it, through their voices and their courage. They don’t hide behind a white-washed media, filling our children’s brains with lies and innuendo.

Our education system has been hijacked, by those who have nothing to do with education. They think they know best, but they are basing that on greed and profit. This is not the America I grew up in. It hasn’t been for the past ten years or so. We have allowed this to happen, to give up our freedoms and our future. We can take it back, but we have to speak up, like the BATS are doing. We have to speak loud, we have to speak from our heart, and we have to do it now. We can not allow those who have the brightest light to fade away. If we do, we are all lost. This generation of students holds the key to the future.

The next time you see a public school teacher, thank them. Tell them they are heroes, and what they are doing matters. Like in Finland, teachers should be held in the highest regard. They need to be respected and treated like the professionals they are. They should not be held accountable for the results of standardized, pressured tests that students take one day a year. Their jobs are on the line, and they are the unsung heroes in our country. Do not let them be replaced by temporary non-educators who think they are better. Do not let the Bill Gates of the world tell us what we are and what we can do. We are not the 1%, we are not the elite, we are not the wealthy. We are America, and we will not stand for corporate takeover of the very institutions that define us.

Become a member of BAPS, the Badass Parents, whose sole function is to support the BATS!

Badass Teachers to March in Washington D.C. July 28th-31st, Any Delaware teachers going? #netde #eduDE @delaware_gov

I’ve been hearing about this all month, and I can’t wait to see what comes of it. Starting on Monday, July 28th, for four days, many teachers who are against current educational policy and reform in America will take it to the Capitol! This will be big news next week, and the sheer number of teachers attending will hopefully make a difference. More and more parents are starting to open their eyes to the USA and Delaware education policies, and how they really are not good for our children.

The BATS Association wants the removal of Arne Duncan. They want a real educator to be the Secretary of Education, not someone with corporate interests as more of a priority. They want an end to high-stakes testing and common core. They want the privatization of public schools to stop as well as the massive expansion of corporate charter schools to halt.

I know there is a Delaware BATS group, but it isn’t very big in relation to other states. The way our current state administration and DOE is set up, I think it would be very dangerous for teachers to speak up against Common Core and the Smarter Balanced Assessment Consortium. I haven’t heard any Delaware charter school teachers speak out publicly about Common Core, although I have had many private conversations where they are dead set against it but can’t say anything for fear of losing their jobs.

I’m starting to hear citizens who don’t have children in school speak out against it, which is a very good thing. This shows it is not just a parent-teacher thing, but a national movement against Common Core.

The below picture was taken from the Badass Teachers Association blog: