| "John Merrow demonstrates the incisiveness of poetry as a means of communicating complex ideas in his rewrite of Robert Frost's "Mending Wall." Merrow turns the poem into "Mending School," a scathing critique of bubble testing. Used appropriately and sparingly, he suggests, the bubble tests may offer value. Used promiscuously, as they are today, they are a parasite that is consuming the host. They have become not a measure of education, but a substitute for education, an insidious force that strips education of meaning. Merrow's annotations are important. In one, he writes, "Robert Frost's poems, including 'Mending Wall,' may not be on many school reading lists in the future because the Common Core State Standards emphasize non-fiction" another annotation refers to the growth of the opt out movement. And one exposes the uselessness of the current regime" Says Diane Ravitch on her blog |
Read the rest of the story HERE:
At learningmatters.tv
At learningmatters.tv
