The head of the Massachusetts Teachers Association criticized public education's "focus on income, on college and career readiness" in comments before the Massachusetts Board of Elementary and Secondary Education Monday, instead saying schools should be a place for "joy of the individual."
Max Page, the president of the Massachusetts Teachers Association, was speaking against standardized testing in a meeting of the Massachusetts Board of Elementary and Secondary Education, said he believes the teachers union and the board have "a fundamental difference of views of what schools are for."
"The focus on income, on college and career readiness, speaks to a system that... is tied to the capitalist class and its need for profit," Page said. "We, on the other hand, have as a core belief that the purpose of schools must be to nurture thinking, caring, active, and committed adults, parents, community members, activists, citizens."
Page went on to say there is no model of a school that met his ideal.
"We must face the painful fact that this country has never on a large scale known vital schools which formulate their goals in terms of the joy of the individual, instead of the fear of social dynamite, or the imperatives of economic growth," he said.
Page also added that the current members of the board would not support building the kinds of schools that he did.
"So I’m sorry to have to say that building anew and building schools that are organized for joy, for creativity, for citizenship, will not happen with many of the [members of the Board of Elementary and Secondary Education], but it will happen with the people beside me and behind me," Page said, referencing his fellow teachers.
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Page and MTA Vice President Deb McCarthy were speaking out opposing the plan, which ultimately was passed by the board, to require higher MCAS scores for high school graduation beginning with this fall’s high school freshman.
Page said the standardized testing "does little more than prove the wealth of the student and the community where it is taken."
