From Dan Drmacich via the Diane Ravitch Blog
Kevin Bosworth, a teacher at Olathe East High School in Olathe, Kansas, wrote to tell me about a class discussion of grades and tests. A student shared her poem with the class, and Kevin shared it with me. The reformers and disrupters now say they are intrigued with social and emotional learning. Let them read this and see what they have learned.
Hello my name is worthless
Name number and date
State your class and hour
Let the rubric pick your fate
Your value as a human
Can be measured by percent
All that matters is the value
That the numbers represent
We promise that you matter
You’re more than just a grade
But you better score one hundred
Or else you won’t get paid
They require our attendance
We’re brain dead taking notes
So we can barf back up the knowledge
That they shove down our throats
Each human life is precious
And every childhood has worth
But if you fill in the wrong bubbles
Then you don’t belong on earth
They question our depression
They wonder why we’re stressed
When our futures are decided
Doing better on a test
They tell me that I’m gifted
That there’s no need to despair
But if you only read the numbers
I’m a living waste of air
I might think I have talents
But there’s no worth in art
Because it can’t be measured
By a number on a chart
The people say I’m flying
The numbers say I’ll crash
My letter grades ‘ll prove it
I’m worthless human trash
They use standardized procedures
To find the worth of kids
But I don’t fit in boxes
Without spilling out the lids
Some kids don’t fit the system
But differences can’t stay
They put us in the garbage
And throw it all away
