The Math of Life starts with school.

Sometime life is just math. Do we add value to our lives? Where does that value come from? Is it stolen from the lives of others or is it achieved through our own noble efforts? What makes us truly rich or poor? Dollars do not add up to character and the soul of a good man is not for sale.

 Let’s begin with poverty. There is not a wealthy person on earth who has not reached wealthy status initially without income not derived from the poor. This comment means tracing created wealth to its foundation. Either labor or purchases of the poor are directly responsible for the survival of a business. Now let’s look at PARCC

To complain that there is no standard of learning is merely a ploy.  The standard is a diploma. The standard is getting promoted one grade at a time once requirements of proven ability have been demonstrated. It is how all of us adults who have PUBLIC EDUCATION generated diplomas got them. We reached that plateau of success without a test at the end of 12 years of education that would stop us from graduating. Good grades are the standard. So how does a young adult get to their senior year without reading on grade level? What are the options for that student and who is to blame?  That student, now an adult, is in jeopardy of being poor for the rest of their lives. 

Give up the rhetoric and the data and look at the function of business. Where did PARCC come from? Where did Common Core come from? Where is Pearson in all of this? Who benefits from a person who is doomed to poverty by whatever circumstances keeps them bound? Are those circumstances contributing to generational poverty something we can change?

Businesses want cheap labor. Labor cost coupled with the selling price of the product is the singularly most direct impactor of profit. Why give more money to one politician when you can give less to another and get the same influence? (I digress).  The point is business likes people in poverty and they want people to think what they are selling is important enough to buy.

College used to be important. In fact it was so important that people incurred debt for many years to get it. Now trade schools present a shorter or direct path to skilled careers. This brings us back to High School or primary and secondary education in the US. These systems are the foundation of the future.  These systems determine workforce, value of education, and the ability of a society to advance.  

 So what was so valuable to us that we allowed these human beings who could not read to advance? NCLB created a society that was left behind. To many that is ok because that is how it was designed. It worked. I know many teachers who have anguished over NCLB and PARCC. It is because they see the damage first-hand. They are those working in areas where it is almost destiny to be poor.

Business majors know that sectors influence economy. We can all agree that there was a housing bubble and that it affected financial markets to the point of collapse. What they won’t discuss is that the housing market was targeted by the financial market. We expect kids to learn to read, write, and do math. We as adults don’t do these things as we have our noses to the proverbial grindstone. Why would we sign anything that is so lengthy it is hard to read in its entirety? Why would we use a monetary vehicle that is so complicated we have to have someone we trust to explain it to us? The expression always read the fine print comes to mind.

We know math can be simple. There is nothing hard about adding what you make and subtracting what you pay from that amount. Everyone who has ever broken a dollar knows how to account for an expenditure.  If you want to predict over time then you multiply which is still just fancy addition. It does not matter what terms you use to label income or debt they are still plus and minus. These things have not changed. Business degrees get more complicated because we accept more terms and more challenging ways to achieve the same simple addition and subtraction.

So now we have PARCC and it is supposed to fix all our problems. The PARCC’s questions certainly don’t make math, reading or writing any easier to perform. In fact just as financial instruments have been allowed to become so complicated, the basic skills are being complicated. Maybe it is because the people who complicated what happens to your money in the bank are now attempting to control what happens when your kids are in class. Yes your kids, because this is not happening to THEIR KIDS. Charters are not required to take or administer the PARCC.

One must understand how PARCC is being used to close urban schools. Urban school budgets pay charter schools upfront based on Charter enrolment. Charters participating in the for profit mode select the kids they wish to keep often using involuntary opt in. This means that they cull their enrolment by sending low performers and alleged disciplinary problem students back to the public schools while keeping the funding associated with them thereby creating a profit. This profit is realized while creating a further lack of funding for already underfunded traditional public schools. Many parents remove kids from charter schools citing disciplinary actions or education performance that is no better and sometimes worse than traditional schools.

PARCC is intended to fire teachers for under performance and close schools for not meeting benchmarks while the PARCC itself has no established record. Teachers are blamed when the very systems to take and prepare for the test do not exist through budget shortfalls and unfunded mandates from the state. Meanwhile the test providers get rich without bearing the cost of preparation or administering the test. Teachers are forced to teach to the test instead of documented teacher approved methods. Any resistance means being targeted, leaving many teachers with three distinct options. These options are: Leave teaching, succumb to pressure, or fight back. Many are leaving as the stress of resistance and the harm done to the kids, teachers, and education as an artful skill is unethical and in direct opposition to why many became teachers. Many are fighting back because they have chosen to not surrender. They have chosen to place kids first, oppose the privatization of schools, and fight for productive education and equity for all students. Many have joined forces in their resistance. These people are called Badass Teachers or BATS. They are not just teachers they are people who care for education and the promise it holds. BATS can be found in almost every state and internationally.

Reports have been written about under preforming Charter schools, budget corruption, mismanagement of funds, and exorbitant salaries. The profit centers fail due to the emphasis of profiteers over quality education. They claim to be public schools when getting funding and then claim to be private when their budgets and expenditures are investigated. Urban school districts reporting a budget deficit often have a figure which directly mirrors charter school payment amounts.  When asked in an urban school district what the charter school deficit was compared to the district wide deficit no response is ever given. Charter schools are funded at 95 to 98 percent through taking district money first. They never have the underfunding problem and due to the legislation pushed by wealthy charter school profiteers they never will.

Such legislation in NJ is the Urban Hope Act. I will detail the legislation in another piece. For now I will say that through NJ legislation profiteers placed Trenton, Newark, and Camden public schools in harm’s way and set the stage for privatization and traditional public school takeover purely for profit.

So what can you do? Opt out of PARCC. It only takes a letter or note to the school that your kids will not be taking the test. It does not have to be detailed. Just opt out in writing. The districts are required to administer the test. Your kids are not required to take it. Do not accept the districts lie that the test is mandatory. You have the option of opting out. You are not alone. This is a National movement to break the data chain they wish to create. 

The company Pearson is monitoring social media accounts of kids and parents regarding all communication concerning PARCC. It is a violation of privacy and free speech.  That is not ok. What is clear is that we are making headway. We are making them concerned about what we say.  It is us who are being tested. Will we stand and fight or be the backs on which fortunes are built. The math is simple. Do we add to our lives or do we let others subtract from our lives while adding to their own?

Vote for your own interests.

I was born in 1963. Being born black means I was born with the inability to vote. So often I stop to wonder why skin color prevented me from having such a privilege.  I wondered why it was important and how I was granted the power to execute a basic right. I grew up and examined the purpose of voting. I also examined what has been done to control that right.

We all know what gerrymandering is. We all know what redistricting is.  But do we understand why? Voting remains the single obligation of every citizen. Why has the 99% continued to keep the 1%’s system in place? Voting by party or popularity is absurd. When will we break the 1%’s dominance? The notion that families feel entitled to office shows WE have not done our jobs as citizens. The dominance must end.

The scary fact that the Bushs and the Clintons feel they own the office is one matter; the fact that WE have supported them is another. I feel the second is much more disturbing. Are our political offices family heirlooms or do they belong to the people? Do the 99% of US believe the nation belongs to the 1%?  

Laws are our checks and balances to justice. If those who make law remain above it, it stands to reason that the laws are for the 99% of US. The terms, US and us are interchangeable, as it is us and the US who are affected by law. Law implies consequences and penalties for actions designated as lawful and unlawful. Courage should not be the quality that determines who is allowed to break the law. Influence should not determine who gets to break the law. The law is the law.

Examine all the stories of Christie emerging now. We must not forget that all he has done has been allowed. He has operated with impunity to the point where he himself believes he can do whatever he wants.  He did not arrive at this conclusion overnight, it is a cumulative assumption based on what he has gotten away with. He and his buddies, those he has appointed and used his office to benefit have enjoyed the protection of the fear and money.  We that have spread news of his offenses have taken a stand.  We have also looked to the same system that allowed him to operate illegally for help. I contend that the NJ legislators should have defended the people of NJ.

His settlement with EXXON has been so glaringly corrupt some action may be taken. Asking questions about his activities is not in my humble opinion, enough. Only by holding him accountable will NJ send a message that all may understand. Other Governors have lost their positions for a lot less. What makes him so different?  The call to impeach President Clinton certainly pales by comparison of offenses for calls to have Christie impeached and held accountable for the billions he has cost NJ. Others have resigned for less.

The betrayal of trust of a public servant is egregious. Are the machinations of a career politician   common place and acceptable? When does it end? Does it end when the 1% dictates as the image becomes so tarnished Christie is of no use to them? What about Christie’s use to the people of NJ? He has been against us in the interest of his own selfish gain for years. The closer he became to being a Presidential Candidate the worse it got for NJ. NJ has asked for help in stopping him and saving the entire US from his corruption.

They say the greedy and selfish can never have enough. Well the 99% here in NJ have had enough. We pray that he is held accountable. We have to pray because justice is not as swift for him as it is for the 99%.  Examine all the poor in prisons who simply could not pay fines, fees, or penalties whose cases proceed without delay. They do not add up to the amount of NJ money that Christie has absconded from NJ. The fact that he has used NJ money to become what he is to the Republican Party is concerning. I emphasis this is not about party. This is about the type of PEOPLE who find value in his deeds.

We must examine the type of people who find value in his actions. We must also examine the type of people who find value in the actions of Mrs. Clinton. Who among us, the 99%, could not be prosecuted for the offenses brought to light? It is not about finding the best lawyer money can buy. That would mean they would be brought into court. There has not been a charge prosecuted as of this moment in time. There has been no real accountability as we in NJ and potentially the US are left to suffer the arrogance fostered by impunity.

I have no urge to break the law as I regard the law as enforcement of rules by which we all must abide. I thank bloggers and press for their courage in bringing these acts to light. In all of this I contend that we all, as VOTERS must make sure the opportunities for the corrupt to execute their plans be minimized. We cannot keep putting them in office. They need the votes of the 99%. We the 99% need to rise to our responsibility of protecting ourselves as they have proven they will do whatever it takes to accumulate more wealth for themselves and their friends.

I submit that VOTING is our power. We must not give our power to those who feel entitled to office simply because a family member held it previously. Oddly business and principles that govern them operate the Government. As a business principle the people who are ineffective get fired. Those who do not produce corporate gains are fired. The 99% must embrace that principle. We all lose at the hands of those who do not handle our business and make gains for us. They that ask us to do more with less yet they themselves continue to gain more.

I implore you all to VOTE responsibly and more often. I also urge you to vote for your own interest. Make a call to your representatives to remind them they represent you the 99%. It is one call that could save NJ and the US billions. They have yet to make it illegal to hide things in bills and legislation. The Christie administration has failed us in NJ. What we are finding is that all these illegal actions are related to him, those he hired, or got hired. What we also know is the more we dig the more we find. What we don’t know is which crimes if any, he will be prosecuted.  

Never forget that the courts we face owe us justice. The same courts that prosecute us are responsible for prosecuting him. The beginning is for the 99% of us to have the backing of the NJ Legislators. Therein is our power. The NJ legislators must know prosecuting Christie must be seen as justice for those they represent in NJ, not just a way to save their own political careers. 

Do your homework on candidates. As you take your car to be serviced or your children to someone to be cared for I am certain you consider their expertise, care, and record. You also consider how they treat you. Are they courteous and professional? Are they practiced and professionally certified?  Do they deliver as promised? Then why do we allow career politicians to operate any differently? They master the tools that keep them in office. They know what to say to whatever audience is before them. Now we have the ability to share their messages in ways they really must consider. 

We should expect them to be convincing, charming, and beguiling. There is one more thing we should expect. We should expect them to simply keep their word as they swear on a bible to represent us, all of us, not big donors or the machine that is entrenched.  They swear to uphold, not circumvent the law. We are at a point where it has fallen to us VOTERS to elect those who will abide by the law.  We can no longer expect them to resign when they get caught breaking the law and our trust.

This is not about rhetoric. It is about responsibility and understanding our responsibility as voters. Many have died and suffered that women and blacks be allowed to vote. Those who have always had the power to do so remain interested in keeping it. The least we can do is honor and exercise the rights many have worked so hard for us to obtain.

Thomas Jefferson stated that the purpose for public education was that the public would learn how to govern itself. We must ask our selves if Public Education is supported would it produce a more socially and politically aware constituency? Maybe that is why it remains unfunded, exploited, and the target of those who wish to destroy it. That is another topic for another time. For now, focus on using the power of the 99%. It is our voices and our choices that allow those in seats of power to remain. 

Politics is a career of making promises but public service is a lifestyle of keeping them.--AJC