Critique

I agree with Caitlin completely. Standardized tests should be criticized and reevaluated. Only 39 percent of Florida students passed the Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test (FCAT). A Florida school board member took the test and scored poor in reading, even when he has master’s degrees in English and teaches 39 graduate courses in 6 universities in Florida. One Florida 8^th grader had all A’s, but scored low on the FCAT and could no longer take her advanced prep courses. Last fall, she spoke in front of her school board, crying, pleading to continue her education while not counting the unfair standardized tests. The tests stress out students. There are official standardized tests rules for students who throw up from stress during test taking. There should not be rules in place for situation like that. They do not benefit teachers. They only help Pearson Education. The tests are not fair assessments, and need to be re evaluated.

SOURCE: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J6lyURyVz7k

Thoughts on the Baltimore Riots

With everything going on in Baltimore recently I can’t help but have riots and race relations on my mind. I understand the anger. Police killing another innocent black man that was wrongfully arrested, it sounds like a similar story from 1992 with Rodney King. Or even as far back as the 1960’s. Police brutality, discrimination, and equal rights have been on the table for quiet some time, but equality is still a struggle for many people everyday. The people rioting are tired of knocking at the door asking for equality, and are now breaking it down. Some of them are angry. Some are taking advantage of the situation. Dousing people in gasoline? Destroying your own neighborhoods? I don’t see how this helps anything. I think it’s wrong. Not condoning riots, but maybe destroying government buildings and courthouses similar to the White Night riots for the death of Harvey Milk? Maybe even that would make more sense. But destroying where you live? I don’t get it. The peaceful protests going on in Baltimore need more coverage. And thankfully the police officers in the case against Freddy Gray have had criminal charges filed against them. But this is all a metaphor a bigger picture. A metaphor for the social injustices many minorities still face today. Hopefully news like this will spark conversations between people about race and racism. Hopefully this can turn into a conversation about how we should be treating people, and not about how we treat certain races of people.