Read Veteran Teacher’s Witheringly Scornful Resignation Letter: ‘I Am Not Leaving My Profession…It No Longer Exists’

[Gordon Ray Kissinger]

Apr. 9, 2013 10:00pm Jason Howerton

After proudly teaching at New York’s Westhill High School for 27 years, Gerald “Jerry” Conti decided it was time to retire. It’s not that he didn’t have anything left in the tank, but he feels the education system has “failed” America’s children and the teachers who desperately want to teach them.

Conti, 62, posted the text of his resignation letter on Facebook on March 29. Also included in the post was a photo of Porky Pig proclaiming “That’s All Folks!”

The Huffington Post explains what’s in his letter:

The letter lays out why, after several decades, Conti believed he had to call it quits. Conti points the blame at legislators who “failed us by selling children out to private industries such as Pearson Education,” a testing company. He argued the New York State United Teachers union failed its members by not mounting an effective campaign against standardized testing, and said there’s now a “pervasive atmosphere of distrust” preventing teachers from developing their own tests and quizzes.

“After writing all of this I realize that I am not leaving my profession, in truth, it has left me. It no longer exists,” Conti wrote in the letter.

Conti told the Post-Standard that his ire wasn’t directed at the local school district but rather at the “larger forces” of education reform.

“This whole thing is being driven by people who know nothing about education,” he told the Post. “It’s sad.”

Read Conti’s entire resignation letter below:

Gerald Gerald Conti’s retirement letterConti Letter

Featured image provided to the Post-Standard by Gerald Conti

[Gordon Ray Kissinger]

February 18, 2013

No Toddler Left Behind Means Younger Government-Controlled Children

By Jude Eden, Jane of Trades

“Study after study shows that the sooner a child begins learning, the better he or she does down the road.”  Obama said this in last Tuesday’s State of the Union address, arguing that the federal government should provide preschool education.  Among his multitudinous straw man arguments and big-government strategies, this is just another plan for more government control of our children at the taxpayers’ expense.

While early learning is a benefit to children, this doesn’t mean that earlier formal school will benefit them. Why should we subject toddlers to the same education system that is failing our kindergarten through twelfth graders?   American students are currently at the bottom when it comes to test scores in subjects like math and science.  A quarter of our kids are dropping out of high school, and many of those who do graduate can’t read at grade level.  Despite failing our children, the government’s constant answer is that the schools need more money.  Yet the more money they get, the worse our students do every year. This is just another pitch to gain influence over younger and younger children, continue to erode parental rights, and to gain more jobs for teachers and their unions who vote for big government.

The same problems we see for day-care kids vs. children who are cared for at home will pervade this new proposed school system.  Daycare kids are twelve times more likely to get the flu than those cared for at home.  Research from the American Academy of Pediatrics shows that toddlers in daycare are more insecure, anxious, aggressive, hyperactive, defiant and disobedient.  What kind of teenagers and adults do they become with this as their foundation?  Just as the constant change in personnel negatively affects daycare children’s sense of trust and security, so will this be the case for younger children going through government run public school systems.

Licensed and “trained professionals” are already forming the value systems of our children as they have them for thousands of hours away from their parents’ care.  Obama will put children who are at a critical and vulnerable stage in their psychological and behavioral development under the care of people who are not accountable for any mistakes or false teaching.  It will not help children, poor or otherwise.  What it will do is create a division in the authority figures in children’s lives.

Estimates are that this will cost taxpayers $98 billion over ten years.  Families who are already struggling will bear the burden of even more money taken out of their pockets to be used not only to indoctrinate their children but also to undermine their parental guidance and authority.

What really sets children up for success at every stage of development is a strong nuclear family unit, not government-run education.  But strong families are less likely to teach their children victim-hood and government dependence.  That’s a problem for an administration that wants ever more government control over the lives of its citizens.

http://politicalanimalblog.com/

[Gordon Ray Kissinger]

Excellednt information from Michelle Malkin regarding GLSEN:

http://michellemalkin.com/?s=GLSEN

[Gordon Ray Kissinger]

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If your child's school allows 'Day of Silence' propaganda, keep your child at home April 19 Let your school officials know that if they are going to allow social and political action in class, your child will not be there. April 10, 2013 The Day of Silence, which is sponsored by the Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network (GLSEN), fast approaches. This year it will take place in most public schools on April 19. On this day, thousands of public high schools and increasing numbers of middle schools will allow students to remain silent throughout an entire day-even during instructional time-to promote GLSEN's socio-political goals. Parents must actively oppose this hijacking of the classroom for political purposes. Please join the national effort to restore to public education a proper understanding of the role of government-subsidized schools. You can help de-politicize the learning environment by calling your child out of school if your child's school allows students to remain silent during instructional time on the Day of Silence. Parents should no longer passively countenance the political usurpation of public school classrooms through student silence. If students will be permitted to remain silent, parents can express their opposition most effectively by calling their children out of school on the Day of Silence and sending letters of explanation to their administrators, their children's teachers, and all school board members. One reason this is effective is that most school districts lose money for each student absence. School administrators err when they allow the classroom to be disrupted and politicized by granting students permission to remain silent throughout an entire day. Visit www.doswalkout.net for complete information on opposing the Day of Silence. TAKE ACTION 1. Call your local schools and ask whether they permit students or teachers to remain silent in the classroom on "Day of Silence." IMPORTANT: Do not ask any administrator, school board member, or teacher if the school sponsors, endorses, or supports DOS. Schools do not technically sponsor the Day of Silence. Technically, it is students, often students in the gay-straight alliance, who sponsor it. Many administrators will tell you that they do not sponsor the DOS when, in fact, they do permit students and sometimes even teachers to remain silent during instructional time. Also ask administrators whether they permit teachers to create lesson plans to accommodate student silence. 2. Find out what date the event is planned for your school. (The national date in 2013 is April 19, but some schools observe DOS on a different date). 3. Inform the school of your intention to keep your children home on that date and explain why. For more information or questions, visit Day of Silence Walkout. It is very important that you forward this alert to your friends and family members. Sincerely, Tim Wildmon, President American Family Association Help us Financially Donate Online to AFA One-Time Monthly Text the letters "AFA" to 20222 to give $10 Standard messaging rates may apply. Spiritual Heritage Tours Experience Washington, DC and Mount Vernon from a Christian perspective. More Information P.S. Follow @AFAActionAlert on Twitter.

Action Link * http://www.doswalkout.net/