8th graders struggle in US history, civics on national exam

CAT Tracks Editor's Note:

And just why in the hell would we be surprised?!

Teachers...

...ALL TEACHERS, be they math teachers, language arts teachers, science teachers, social studies teachers, band teachers, art teachers, phys-ed teachers, etcetera, and hell, the non-teaching secretaries, cooks, and custodians...

...have been been threatened with loss of their j-o-bs if their students don't meet or exceed standards on the annual state tests in math and language arts.

Teach history?

I don't think so!

As educators keep telling the meddling politicians: "What gets tested gets taught!"

And all you have to do is read the news, watch the news, to see that even though math and language arts get "taught", they evidently still don't get "learned".

Guess what...

...children living in poverty have bigger concerns than filling in bubbles on standardized tests.

Memo to reformsters (and anybody else who gives a damn)...

...study your "history", what all your sh*t stirring under NCLB and RTTT has accomplished!

Not an effing thing!!!

Standardized tests scores are stagnant, the achievement gap is alive and well, abused teachers are leaving the profession, and the long-sought-after "cream of the crop" students are selecting anything but teaching as a career.

And...

...in the face of all this "history", reformsters and politicians of both political parties want more, more more!

Well, as the final stanza of the old cheer made popular at the University of Florida goes:

Rackety Jack! Rackety Jack!
Hullabaloo! Hullabaloo!
F.U.! F.U.!

While the reformsters are trying to figure that one out...