I just posted this to facebook and thought I’d post it here too.
Apparently I was on Fox News last night. I was leaving work yesterday (at Oakland Community College) when I spotted Charlie Langton pestering people in the atrium with a cameraman in jean shorts. I hung out for a few minutes and watched him repeatedly attempt to cram lines down the throats of the few people he targeted, mostly janitors and cafe workers rather than students and professors, about the benefits of requiring teacher pay to be decided by the results of standardized tests. I noticed he was framing his questions in ways that would most likely result in answers that fit their script. My blood started to boil a bit and I almost yelled “scumbags!” and walked out, but then he spotted me. He bounded my way, and without asking whether he could film me, told me to “stand up against that pole! Yes! Look casual!” and attempted to feed me an answer to a heavily loaded question. I don’t remember what it was exactly but I made it clear that I was against any form of standardized testing whatsoever and said that I believe education works best when tailored to students’ individual qualities (I thought of saying how teaching to standardized tests is no different than programming drones, but thought against it, as I kinda wanted to end up on TV). In a way I’m surprised he continued to question me, but I stuck to my opinion, and told him that the state cannot dictate “success” across the board without lowering the standards overall. Then he got so close his nose hairs tickled my chin and asked me, with a smirk and a wink, “what… you don’t trust… the STATE?” and the cameraman brought his camera so close to my face I could feel my breath bouncing off the lens. I told him, “in many respects, I don’t,” and said something about how no matter where students are, in the city, suburb, countryside, that the only way they can be successful is if they all have access to the resources they need, which the state should provide if need be, but that education should be left to the educators to formulate depending on the strengths and needs of the individual students.
They didn’t ask for my name or if they could air what I said, so I doubt I’ll see any royalties for my performance, and I’m sure they cherry-picked whatever words or phrases fit their dialogue. I didn’t see it – I don’t watch television, and when it aired I was at Small’s, singing along with The Counter Elites about busting up corporate media and concentrated influence. The only reason I see Fox News getting behind the standardization (aka dumbing-down) of education is because they’re nothing more than fear-mongering toilet paper salesmen spewing corporate ideology between commercial breaks, and don’t want teachers getting in the way of their creation of a mindless and heartless society of selfish zombie consumers.
Fox, NBC, CNN etc sell us competing corporate interests and nothing more than an illusion of choice. Just like Coke or Pepsi – made of the same poisonous ingredients, and taking up the whole goddamn aisle. Be your own media and ignore these a-holes.
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also I got a new bike today!!
jonfromthemoon 