Testimony of Lynette Culverhouse


My name is Lynette Culverhouse and I am the parent of an 8th grader and 6th
grader in Arlington. I am also a teacher.

I am here to testify that never in my 25 years of teaching have I known
public school students to be so lethargic about learning, so intellectually
bored and so uninspired by their learning experiences in school. Never have
I known students who have so little time to have a childhood and who live in
fear of being failures. Never have I known so many teachers who are leaving
the profession because they no longer have the freedom to be creative and
individual in their teaching. There is no teacher or parent in this room
who does not believe in high standards but the homoginizing of curriculum and
the expectation that all children will perform in the same way and memorize
the same set of facts has nothing to do with a high quality learning
experience. It also ignores the obvious knowledge that as human beings we
have unique talents and learning styles and that our job as guardians of child
ren is to ensure that those talents are allowed to flourish. Do we have any
idea how many Beethoven's, Einsteins or Picasso's we are stifling because a
small group of people who are not public school teachers or public school
parents have decided what they think education should be. Dare I say that
the atmosphere created by this rigid, forced and inhumane attitude towards
our children is beginning to look like something that was happening in
Germany in the 1930's. History will be the judge of this. I only know that
it is very painful for those being oppressed by it and very blinding for
those doing the oppressing.

I am a mother bear when it comes to my children and indeed any children. I
will not ignore this issue so long as I continue to witness the damage it is
causing them. It is insulting to the integrity and intellect of children to
assume that they are good for nothing more than the memorization of facts fed
to them in order for them to be able to regurgitate them on a test. And to
think that all that money spent on tests could be spent putting more teachers
in schools and having smaller classes and therefore a better quality
education. Let there be no mistake. The Board of Education which includes
no teachers has chosen to sacrifice quality education in order to gratify
their need for numbers as a means of assessing schools. This is deeply
flawed, bad money management and contrary to the intent of the 1983 Education
Reform Act.

Both my children have lost their respect for the education they are currently
receiving. My 8th grade son recently said when I asked him about a writing
project "But Mom, it is not the content that counts, it is the format'. Now
it appears to me that perhaps my children and many others are smarter than
those who are imposing a test driven curriculum and that there is a
deliberate attempt to dumb them down. We, in Arlington, now have a large
active group of parents, teachers and students meeting regularly, running
forums and supporting each other in this cause. We, the parents of
Arlington, pledge to fight the MCAS tests until we have in place a method of
assessment which values and respects teachers for their individuality and
promotes equity and justice in all our schools. I have here for the comittee
close to 600 letters and postcards from the parents of Arlington expressing
their opposition to the MCAS tests.