OCA - GREATER SEATTLE CHAPTER
re: Article "Turn Down Heat in War on Word and Worms"
Mr. Jamieson,
I thank you for your well researched response [to the OCA-Greater Seattle press release about the WASL].
I think, however, that you missed the problem. That problem is that it is not so much what is true, but what is perceived to be true that matters.
The secrecy surrounding the WASL makes it impossible for parents and teachers to verify what is in the tests. The teachers can't look at the tests. The parents don't get to look at the tests. They only hear what they are told - that is what the children perceive to be true; what the children remember.
It is not so much that that story is true or untrue. The problem is that it contributes to stereotyping. It is a part of the nature of some people to try to make others feel unimportant. It is the responsibility of the Board of Education to avoid contributing to the problem of bullying and intimidation that some children find so entertaining.
How would you respond if your child is being teased about eating bugs and worms by children who believe that doing so is what he/she does at home and is part of your child's heritage? How would you feel if it was used to taunt them, to make them cry, or feel bad about the color of their own skin?
There are many adopted and American born Asian children in the Seattle Metropolitan area who struggle with identity issues. For many of their parents, including myself, it is a struggle for us to build (and help them maintain) their self-respect. We are not the only parents of minority children who have heard them exclaim, “I wish I was white!” I do not like it when stories, that my daughter perceives as demeaning, are used as a part of her education - whether they are true or untrue.
There are other stories that could be told about whites in this country that are also shocking to some. How come the text books and tests used in the schools do not include those stories?
This year my 7th grade daughter is required to study Washington History. The text contained typos, inaccuracies, and either omitted stories or glossed over significant events that cast the majority race (of which I am one) in a bad light. The Board of Education approved that text book, too.
We parents of immigrant children have enough problems with the WASL. My daughter has learned a lot of English in the nearly four years that she has lived in the U.S., but she is not up to the kind of vocabulary used in the 7th grade WASL (if the practice books and tests are any indication).
Last year, in 6th grade, her school grades in every subject were straight A, but her IOWA test scores (what the school gives in non-WASL years) said she was well below grade level in English and she failed to score high enough to qualify for the pre-algebra course she wanted to take the next year. Having worked with her on math, and having given her pre-algebra classes all the previous summer we knew her test did not reflect her ability. My child was devastated, and my wife and I were outraged.
This year we are home schooling - our goal is simple - bring her English vocabulary up to the 11th and 12th grade level required to score well on this year's WASL. Why is that important? Well, we want to put her in a private school that is not WASL driven, but she must be able to demonstrate she can handle the college prep program they offer.
What about the other immigrant children who must pass the WASL?
What happens to those with immigrant parents who struggle with English themselves?
What about those with parents who haven't the time, education or opportunity to home-school?
What is the WASL doing to those children psychologically and socially?
What is it doing to our education system?
What is it doing to the parents and the family?
How does it influence the teachers?
It is not just OCA-GS (of which I am a member) that wants the board of education to watch what it is doing more carefully, it is we parents.
Richard Bergeon