Repsonse to BATDC of July 28

Today the BATs (Bad Ass Teachers) group marched/rallied at Washington DC with a list of Demands. I'm not a fan of the Bad Ass Teachers group for many reasons (the juvenile nature of the name and imagery of a group that wants to be taken seriously is high on the list*). But their list of Demands for DC is ridiculous. So I took to the twitters to talk about it.

Here's the list:



Doug Robertson ‏@TheWeirdTeacher

I have issues with the #BATDC list. Not personal. 1) Know who issues "Demands"? Kidnappers and cartoon baddies. No one serious #BATdcIssues **

Doug Robertson ‏@TheWeirdTeacher

#BATDC #BATDCIssues Demand 1 is ridiculous and never going to happen.Why have it in there? So they can say no and you can be "unlistened to"

Doug Robertson ‏@TheWeirdTeacher

#BATDCIssues- I'm actually OK with not having teacher evals based on high stakes testing. Wish it wasn't buried under impossible first.

Doug Robertson ‏@TheWeirdTeacher

#BATDCIssues Nmbr 5 is not actually on them, it's on us. How many eds go into government to get on those committees?***

Doug Robertson ‏@TheWeirdTeacher

#BATDCIssues I'm also ok with equality in funding, but "appropriate class sizes" is pretty vague for Demands.

Doug Robertson ‏@TheWeirdTeacher

#BATDCIssues I'm not a huge TfA fan, but it's not the Devil either. Don't kill the program, work on it and with it. Bring it in line.

Doug Robertson ‏@TheWeirdTeacher

#BATDCIssues Looking at N.8 Isn't this rally proof we have freedom of speech? How is part one and two of this demand related?

Doug Robertson ‏@TheWeirdTeacher

#BATDCIssues Re N.4 The standards aren't test-based. They aren't. They might be test-assessed, but that's different. And Ts were involved.

Doug Robertson ‏@TheWeirdTeacher

#BATDCIssues Does #BATDC has alternative suggestions to accompany their demands? End this and that and replace with what that's better?

Doug Robertson ‏@TheWeirdTeacher

#BATDCIssues Does #BATDC has alternative suggestions to accompany their demands? End this and that and replace with what that's better?

I'm open to a conversation about my problems. I hear Arne Duncan actually came out to meet with the group. I look forward to hearing how everyone dealt with that meeting and what was discussed. I REALLY want to know if someone in their group demanded that he step down to his face.

 What is BAT's alternative plan? Does the group believe how things were prior to Common Core was better? Is the group's idea that standards are bad period and teachers should be trusted without guidance to teach what we think kids should learn? 

And it's not until the very last demand that student learning is mentioned at all. For a teacher group you would think students would pop up in the priority list somewhere. 

 *No really, a bunch of them use Batman logos. You know, the comic book superhero. Because if you're a group of grown up educators asking to be taken seriously you go with a comic hero. And I'm a big comic book fan, I've read more Batman comics than most of these teachers, and I actually understand the character they chose as their avatar.

** Really. Batman villians issue demands, you guys. Demands are associated with baddies. Real life baddies like kidnappers and cartoon baddies like the guy who will blow up the bank unless he gets a Lear Jet to the Bahamas and a massage from Olivia Newton John. 

*** This is a HUGE thing for me. You have a problem with government? Run for government. Michele Bachmann got elected, you can get elected.