Invitation to an Open Conspiracy: The Bartleby Project
John Taylor Gatto at The Libertarian Enterprise - The Bartleby Project aims to destroy the very concept of standardized testing in government schools by very simply encouraging students to write on their test papers, "I would prefer not to take your test." Brilliant! [tle]
I prefer not to. Let the statement be heard, at first erratically and then in an irresistible tide, in classrooms across the country. If only one in ten prefer not to, the press will scent an evergreen story and pick up the trail; the group preferring not to will grow like the snow ball anticipating the avalanche.
What of the ferocious campaign of intimidation which will be waged against the refuseniks? Retribution will be threatened, scapegoats will be targeted for public humiliation. Trust me, think Alice in Wonderland; the opposition will be a house of cards, the retribution an illusion. Will the refusers be denied admission to colleges? Don't be naive. College is a business before it's anything else; already a business starving for customers.
The Bartleby Project begins by inviting 60,000,000 American students, one by one, to peacefully refuse to take standardized tests or to participate in any preparation for these tests; it asks them to act because adults chained to institutions and corporations are unable to; because these tests pervert education, are disgracefully inaccurate, impose brutal stresses without reason, and actively encourage a class system which is poisoning the future of the nation.
The Bartleby Project should allow no compromise. That will be the second line of defense for management, a standard trick taught in political science seminars. Don't fall for it. Reject compromise. No need to explain why. No need to shout. May the spirit of the scrivener put steel in your backbone. Just say:
I would prefer not to take your test.
An old man's prayers will be with you.
And so it begins. Simply
And so it begins. Simply reading Gatto's words, was all it took for my students. No prodding necessary.
Bartleby Project 2010
Previous Posts:
None Are So Enslaved as Those Who Falsely Believe They Are Free
Wolfenstein 3D Classic for the iPhone
Workplace web bludging 'good for productivity'
Cold Steel Medium Espada Folding Knife
Savage 111 FCNS Bolt Action Rifle with AccuStock and Leupold's New VX-3 Riflescope
The Bubble That Must Burst
'Simply Submit'
CRAACK!
You and I Can't Buy the Guns Mexican Cartels Own
The Twenty-First-Century Abolitionist Project: Slavery and Taxation
Love it
I love this!!!!!! I stand behind it!
Edit comment