"As a teacher of students who have been classified as handicapped, my passion has been and continues to be to have my students become an acceptable part of mainstream society, independent, self-sufficient, and contributors to our great country. With the passage of the ESEA, most of my hopes and aspirations have been eliminated because I no longer can teach to the whole child. I am forced to teach to a test that 'qualifies' a child for high school diploma candidacy.

"The test is biased, unfair, and set up to have my children fail. The students I have are not on grade level as measured on this standardized test that only taps verbal intelligence. How, in this day and age when we recognize that students possess multiple intelligences, can this one test determine whether a twelfth-grade student who has successfully met the district and state high school requirements will graduate?

"The answer cannot be in academic and logical domains. Only politics that support bashing of a free public education can be the answer. The ESEA is a setup to promote private education so that this country will no longer have free educational opportunity for all.

"Thank goodness for NEA and New JerseyEA who are working vigorously on behalf of our millions of students and working toward making ESEA a law that will support our country's children. Please keep up the passion so that my passion can also be restored!"

< Previous | Next >