This is the best we have?
U.S. Education Secretary Arne Duncan said “It’s fascinating to me that some of the pushback is coming from, sort of, white suburban moms who — all of a sudden — their child isn’t as brilliant as they thought they were and their school isn’t quite as good as they thought they were, and that’s pretty scary.
He said that. I would just love to respond to Arne Duncan in person. When toddlers (I am raising my second) feel threatened and particularly helpless, they begin to lash out. They hit. I don't even need to elaborate. It's clear Mr. Duncan is feeling a sting from his critics.
This critic happens to be a white, suburban mom. She wasn't always a mom and she has both been a student and a teacher in schools where white was a very uncommon color. I was a critic of the curriculum and it's direction long before it turned into Common Core. This was also before I became a parent. I ranted in the hallways to colleagues whose eyes glazed over. I worried that I could have it ALL wrong because they usually had almost no response. It's not wrong. Curriculum defects are a major reason our kids are not always where they need to be. It's the reason college professors lament over giant classes of students who do not know how to write properly. My concern was and always has been for students. I cared about the children in my classroom every day who seemed to be ill-prepared for my classroom from the start but who were forced to focus on skills and concepts that did not match where their little brains were developmentally. The curriculum also left nearly no wiggle room or time for concepts such as character development any of the other special (some non-academic) programs our schools are made to implement. I recently saw an article relating Piaget's stages of development to Common Core. REALLY? That is news? Anyone who holds an education degree could have pointed out the flaws a long time ago. Perhaps more education degree holders should be in a position to write the curriculum. Another novel idea, right? Actually, since I happen to be a white, suburban mom, my criticism must just be about my precious prince and princess at home. Those entitled little geniuses!
All of this fascinating concern comes from lots of white, suburban mom teachers. Do you know who most of your teachers are? While I only taught in 2 counties, I was schooled in an entirely different state. I know lots of teachers. Many of them are white, suburban moms who hold education degrees. I WISH I could have taught in schools that had more teachers of color. It's not as if they don't exist. I just suppose that my 7 years teaching with mostly white teachers who are parents makes this a little offensive. Is this convenient for Arne Duncan? I suppose it's okay to point a shaky finger at white moms. Is it really okay to do this? I am embarrassed that he would underestimate our country's intelligence to think that lumping people together by race would make critics more vulnerable, less intelligent, more selfish, and less educated. What Arne Duncan is selling is bait. It's cheap, bait. He's just hoping that someone will latch onto this idea that the opposition is just a group of white people who feel their children are more special.
If Duncan did his research, he'd understand that people are tired of what looks smart on paper. Over and over we have heard it. It defies research and it defies child development. I myself am a parent whose child attends a school with only 2 report cards per year (at the primary level) and with very few tests. This doesn't exactly make my child look intelligent on paper. I have fewer grades to look at each week. No standardized test scores. The window within which my child needs to be a proficient reader is flexible, per his natural development. Incidentally, my child is a fantastic reader and he did not hit that proficiency until first grade, not kindergarten. I felt anxiety when he wasn't reading well in kindergarten and had to eat my words, patiently trusting his educators and my own intuition. It happened, though. He's developing the basic skills he'll need to be a literate problem solver. I am all for my child looking "dumb" by Duncan's standards if it means he has the chance to learn and develop as a well-rounded human being. Parents who oppose Common Core are not at all afraid their children are not smart. I never did think I cared more about my children being smart than people who aren't white, either.
What are my friends of color thinking? Is Duncan asserting that they don't care as much about how their children will do on the tests? Or is he instead implying that their children will do magically better than before? White children are all doing worse? I suspect as with any tests some children will do better and some children will do worse. What exactly IS he trying to tell us? You're welcome to remind me that as a white woman my experience with racism might be different and more limited to that of someone who is not white. I agree and understand that. However, this is more than just a rude comment toward white people. It is probably the most patronizing comment I've ever heard from someone in power in education and it is patronizing to EVERYONE.
The ones Duncan insults most are parents. Every last one of them and every color. He has found a sad way to turn the argument, yet again, away from his direction and hit below the belt to do so. He needed to vilify his opposition and decided to race to do so. Arne Duncan's toddler ways line up developmentally to his age about as well as his curriculum does to the students' ages.
