This Land Is Your Land...

I am very worried about the future of education in our state and in our country.  I am very worried about my job as an educator and the compensation I receive for doing that job, but I also have other worries.  After reading an article in the NY Times about the push in states to deregulate the environment, I got so angry and knew I had to say something, but I just didn't know how to put my disbelief and disgust in words.  Last night I went to see Peter Yarrow in concert at the Ark, and now I know what needs to be said.

Governor Paul LePage in Maine, put away your 63-point plan to cut environmental regulations and open up three million acres of your North Woods to development because

This land is your land, this land is MY land
From California, to the New York Island
From the Redwood Forest, to the gulf stream waters
This land was made for you and ME.

Governor Rick Scott of Florida, take back your proposal to eliminate millions for land conservation and millions more cut from restoring the dwindling Everglades because

As I was walking this ribbon of highway
I saw above me an endless skyway
I saw below me a golden valley
This land was mad for you and ME

To the Republicans in North Carolina, take back your proposed budget that would cut operating funds to the state's Department of Environment and Natural Resources by 22 percent because

I've roamed and rambled and I've followed my footsteps
To the sparkling sands of her diamond deserts
And all around me a voice was sounding
This land was made for you and ME.

To the Republicans in Washington who have been fighting hard for rollbacks to the Environmental Protection Agency, clean air and water regulations renewable energy and other conservation programs, may I remind you,

This land is your land, this land is MY land
From California to the New York Island
From the Redwood Forest, to the gulf stream waters
This land was made for you and ME.

What is the reason for slashing the funds that protect our land?  Well, according to Governor LePage it is the working families and small businesses in Maine who are endangered and need to be defended  with the same vigor as the tree frogs and Canadian Lynx!  You see, all of these regulations are just too burdensome to business interests and are apparently keeping people from being able to find work.  Did you know that Republicans made it clear last November that reducing all government was important, but cutting environmental regulations was a priority?  Why?  (For some of us a rhetorical question).

To New Jersey's Governor Chris Christie, please rethink your statement that the Highlands Water Protection and Planning Act, which preserves more than 800,000 acres of open land that supplies drinking water to more than half of your state's residents is an infringement on property rights.  Your desire to shift power from planning boards to administrative judges who will favor the interests of developers is just not right because

The sun comes shining as I was strolling
the wheat fields waving and the dust clouds rolling
the fog was lifting a voice was chanting
this land was made for your and ME.

In Florida, Governor Scott has asked to cut staff members to 40 from 358 at the Department of Community Affairs, which regulates land use and was created to be a control on unchecked urban sprawl.  These cuts according to one of the Gov's spokesman, will enable businesses to grow again in Florida.  Now get this statement he made; "the governor does care about the environment, but feels it is more important to get people back to work."  By cutting 318 people from the Dept. of Community Affairs?  What? 

If you don't get what is happening think about the last verse of Woody Guthrie's song

In the squares of the city - In the shadow of the steeple
Near the relief office - I see my people
And some are grumblin' and some are wonderin'
If this land's still made for you and me.

Rosemary

letters@freepress.com

 Normally, if the Free Press is considering publishing a letter to the editor they send an email stating that within a couple of days.  Since I haven't received that email, it looks like the FREEP is again not wanting to print facts in contradiction to their misconceptions.  Shame on them.

I wrote a response to another editorial in the Free Press two months ago that did not get printed.  Your article, Mr. Henderson, is very much like that editorial so I am responding again.  Please, educate yourself.  You are incorrect in what you think is wrong and how to fix it.  It is only fair that Free Press readers get the facts, so please print my response this time.  I thank you in advance for presenting both sides of this issue. 

Mr. Henderson,
You say our standards aren't good enough.  If you read Michigan's standards and benchmarks at each grade level I think you will find that they are quite "good enough", in fact many are extremely "rigorous."  If certain school systems in our state are not considering these standards and benchmarks in the lessons they teach to their students that is a problem, but it is not a problem with our standards.  If certain students in our state are unable to internalize the concepts being taught, that is a problem, but it is not a problem with our standards.  So to say that Michigan schools are failing because our standards are not high enough, is simply, not true.  As for your MEAP and NAEP comparisons, and the data you freely throw around, let me clear some things up for your readers.  The MEAP is given to all of the students in a certain grade level.  The NAEP is given to a sampling of students in that grade level.  You say in 2009, only about 35% of Michigan 4th graders did adequate work on the NAEP which makes it sound like they tested far below the national average which isn't so.  For 4th graders the scores in mathematics were just slightly lower, in reading they were practically even as they were in science, and only slightly below in writing.  I find it ironic that on Jan. 25th of this year, in your paper, an article was written titled "Michigan students outpace U.S. national average on the NAEP exam!  Let me also clarify something about standardized tests.  There is something called a score spread that is necessary in order for the test to produce comparisons.  The makers of these tests want a wide range of difference in the scores.  Questions that produce the most score spread are ones that only about half of the test takers can answer correctly.  Now get this, the questions on these tests that can be answered correctly by half the population tested are linked to the students' socioeconomic status.  Can you guess which half answers correctly?  Another fact, standardized tests were never meant to determine successful and failing schools.  One more fact, those that produce these tests are making loads of money.  Although non-profit, in 2007 ETS made 94 million, ACT took in 35 millions and CollegeBoard, 55 million!  These company leaders support politicians.  While there may be much wrong with some districts in Michigan, there is much right with many others, and how a student scores on a standardized test is the least telling factor in what is working and what is not. 

97.1 Friday morning, it made my blood boil

I don't usually listen to 97.1 in the morning, but on Friday while driving to work, that is what I had on.  The discussion was centered around the 10% pay cut forced on teachers in West Bloomfield by their school board.  By the time I got to school, I was so mad I could have spit as my dear mother would say, and my blood was boiling.  I was just glad that I was not able to pick up the phone, or send an email with my comment, because it would have been a rant of epic proportion.  Now that I have calmed down, I need to clarify a couple of things for the morning crew of 97.1.  While the hosts seemed to truly be in support of teachers, the one kept asking in regards to why the teachers' pay should not be cut, "but where are they going to get the money?"  They of course being the schools.  How about from the school aid fund?  It is not broke, but the Governor plans to take about 900 million, from K-12 and give it to community colleges and 15 public universities, that's why he says Michigan needs to cut 470.00 per pupil from the budget. No Gov, you don't.  The money in the fund belongs to the K-12 educational system, and the Governor can not just use it as he pleases.  It is also my understanding that in the past this fund has been borrowed from and it has not been paid back, so Gov. Snyder is not the first to steal from Michigan's children.  This brings me to another misconception the morning crew at 97.1 have.  If the students of Michigan suffer because of the lack of educational funding, it will not be the fault of the teachers.  IT WILL BE THE FAULT OF THE GOVERNOR AND HIS PEOPLE IN LANSING!  Again, the one host was getting upset that teachers would stop showing up for school events, on their own time, or basically stop doing "work" beyond the school day.  "This only hurts the kids."  He said this over and over again, and he couldn't understand how, good and dedicated teachers could do this.  Here is what teachers have heard for years, "You make an awful lot of money for only working 6 hours a day, 9 months a year."  Too many people believe this, and now with this assault on teachers, how can anyone expect that there won't be that desire to show the public what a six hour day would look like?  So if it looks like the students in Michigan are going to be hurt by all of the changes that will be taking place as school districts cut upwards of twenty million from their budgets, and the students will be hurt by this, don't get mad at the teachers, get mad at your legislature and then help us do something about it.  Call them, write them and tell them you don't like how Governor Snyder is reinventing Michigan, and tell THEM to stop hurting kids.
Rosemary