NJ school exam's "secret" question angers parents

CBS/AP

(CBS/AP) TRENTON, N.J. - Some New Jersey parents are upset about a standardized test question that asked third-graders to reveal a secret and write about why it was hard to keep.

The question appeared on the writing portion of some versions of the New Jersey Assessment of Skills and Knowledge given to third-graders this week.

Parents were especially outraged because children may have revealed information that should have stayed private.

"I guarantee you some children will be writing things family members and parents would have rather not revealed to the state," Goldberg said to the Asbury Park Press. He added that if his twin 9-year-old boys, who told him about the question on the test, would have answered "it's none of your darn business" he would have been perfectly fine with their response.

"They want to answer a question; they don't want to fail. I think somebody should be held accountable for putting children in a difficult position in the middle of a test," he added.

The state Education Department says the question was reviewed and approved by both the department and a panel of teachers. The question is being tried out and will not count in the students' scores.

Education Department spokesman Justin Barra says about 4,000 students in 15 districts had the question. According to the Asbury Park Press, the question had appeared on some versions of the language arts portion of the standardized test. The state will investigate the source of the question.

Barra says that like similar new questions, it will be reviewed before being used again.

[nbishatattglobaldotnet]

****ACLU Multi Family Complaint****

Please send your letter of parental rights violations regarding high stakes standardized testing to:
Nina Bishop
3065 Windward Way
Colorado Springs, CO 80917
719-233-1508 Mountain Standard Time
Please send copies of threatening school mail, denial to school activities, grade advancement or diploma; send you contact information and your request to join the complaint. Please focus your letter around the 13th and 14th Amendments.
*********
Parental rights are broadly protected by Supreme Court decisions (Meyer and Pierce), especially in the area of education, so why not in our state statutes? The Supreme Court has repeatedly held that parents posses the "fundamental right" to "direct the upbringing and education of their children." Furthermore, the Court declared that "the child is not the mere creature of the State: those who nurture him and direct his destiny have the right coupled with the high duty to recognize and prepare him for additional obligations." (Pierce v. Society of Sisters, 268 U.S. 510, 534-35) The Supreme Court criticized a state legislature for trying to interfere "with the power of parents to control the education of their own." (Meyer v. Nebraska, 262 U.S. 390, 402.) In Meyer, the Supreme Court held that the right of parents to raise their children free from unreasonable state interferences is one of the unwritten "liberties" protected by the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment. (262 U.S. 399).In recognition of both the right and responsibility of parents to control their children's education, the Court has stated,"It is cardinal with us that the custody, care and nurture of the child reside first in the parents, whose primary function and freedom include preparation for the obligations the State can neither supply nor hinder." (Prince v. Massachusetts, 321 U.S. 158)
I need you to email something stating something like you feel it's your right to guide your child's education because of the perverse, damaging, and stressful trend in education due to high stakes standardized testing and the toll it's taking on your children. You believe it's harmful for them mentally, physically, and educationally and you're exercising your parental rights, your parental duty, under the Fourteenth Amendment to protect your children. You may word it however you choose but I need to tie it to the Fourteenth Amendment or the ACLU won't view it as a violation of the Constitution.
******
The 13th amendment, which formally abolished slavery in the United States, passed the Senate on April 8, 1864, and the House on January 31, 1865. On February 1, 1865, President Abraham Lincoln approved the Joint Resolution of Congress submitting the proposed amendment to the state legislatures. The necessary number of states ratified it by December 6, 1865. The 13th amendment to the United States Constitution provides that "Neither slavery nor INVOLUNTARY SERVITUDE; except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States, or any place subject to their jurisdiction."

[u29ac52]

The correct answer to the question is either
A) My parents told me not to discuss our home with every dog on the street
or B) If I tell you then it isn't a secret.

Teach your kids these answers. The first one shut up a school psychologist when I said it to her in grade school and that was in the 60's. My mother laughed and told that story for years. She was proud of me.

[nbishatattglobaldotnet]

*****ACLU Multi Family Complaint******

Please send your letter of parental rights violations regarding high stakes standardized testing to:

Nina Bishop
3065 Windward Way
Colorado Springs, CO 80917
719-233-1508 Mountain Standard Time

Please send copies of threatening school mail, denial to school activities, grade advancement or diploma; send your contact information and your request to join the complaint. Please focus your letter around the 13th and 14th Amendments.

Parental rights are broadly protected by Supreme Court decisions (Meyer and Pierce), especially in the area of education, so why not in our Colorado state statutes? The Supreme Court has repeatedly held that parents posses the "fundamental right" to "direct the upbringing and education of their children." Furthermore, the Court declared that "the child is not the mere creature of the State: those who nurture him and direct his destiny have the right coupled with the high duty to recognize and prepare him for additional obligations." (Pierce v. Society of Sisters, 268 U.S. 510, 534-35) The Supreme Court criticized a state legislature for trying to interfere "with the power of parents to control the education of their own." (Meyer v. Nebraska, 262 U.S. 390, 402.) In Meyer, the Supreme Court held that the right of parents to raise their children free from unreasonable state interferences is one of the unwritten "liberties" protected by the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment. (262 U.S. 399)

In recognition of both the right and responsibility of parents to control their children's education, the Court has stated,

"It is cardinal with us that the custody, care and nurture of the child reside first in the parents, whose primary function and freedom include preparation for the obligations the State can neither supply nor hinder." (Prince v. Massachusetts, 321 U.S. 158)

I need you to email something stating something like you feel it's your right to guide your child's education because of the perverse, damaging, and stressful trend in education due to high stakes standardized testing and the toll it's taking on your children. You believe it's harmful for them mentally, physically, and educationally and you're exercising your parental rights, your parental duty, under the Fourteenth Amendment to protect your children. You may word it however you choose but I need to tie it to the Fourteenth Amendment or the ACLU won't view it as a violation of the Constitution.



You may even cite the Thirteenth Amendment as well since your children are not in school for involuntary servitude to the state and testing companies.



The 13th amendment, which formally abolished slavery in the United States, passed the Senate on April 8, 1864, and the House on January 31, 1865. On February 1, 1865, President Abraham Lincoln approved the Joint Resolution of Congress submitting the proposed amendment to the state legislatures. The necessary number of states ratified it by December 6, 1865. The 13th amendment to the United States Constitution provides that "Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude; except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States, or any place subject to their jurisdiction."



Parental rights are broadly protected by Supreme Court decisions (Meyer and Pierce), especially in the area of education, so why not in ourstate statutes? The Supreme Court has repeatedly held that parents posses the "fundamental right" to "direct the upbringing and education of their children." Furthermore, the Court declared that "the child is not the mere creature of the State: those who nurture him and direct his destiny have the right coupled with the high duty to recognize and prepare him for additional obligations." (Pierce v. Society of Sisters, 268 U.S. 510, 534-35) The Supreme Court criticized a state legislature for trying to interfere "with the power of parents to control the education of their own." (Meyer v. Nebraska, 262 U.S. 390, 402.) In Meyer, the Supreme Court held that the right of parents to raise their children free from unreasonable state interferences is one of the unwritten "liberties" protected by the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment. (262 U.S. 399)

In recognition of both the right and responsibility of parents to control their children's education, the Court has stated,

"It is cardinal with us that the custody, care and nurture of the child reside first in the parents, whose primary function and freedom include preparation for the obligations the State can neither supply nor hinder." (Prince v. Massachusetts, 321 U.S. 158)

[Horsepuckey]

or C) Go F*** yourself!

[Persiphone]

Questions probably set by the same people who are stero typing children at school and in the media, if a boy is soft natured he is a homosexual if a girl is a tomboy she is homosexual, even though they are children. "Openly gay" for a 13 year old or even a 12 year old girl who had a "girlfriend". Its the education boards at fault as well as the media

[TJphoto]

If we are to change the education system in this country, get rid of the overpaid administrators. What a concept!

[ProgressNow]

"Education Department spokesman Justin Barra says about 4,000 students in 15 districts had the question."
---

Of which, 2,783 came out of the closet...

[mitdgreenb]

There's one element of this story that's missing...

According to a teach friend of mine in NJ, their contract prohibits discussion of the test or its contents. That's right: if a teacher objected to this question, he or she would be subject to disciplinary action. Clearly, the Dept of Education people were depending on this to cover up their arrogance and incompetence. I wonder if whistle-blower laws would protect the teachers.

[hypnotoad72]

Why is that question there in the first place?

[wlhoppers]

What is mental capacity of the pack of fools who thought this would be an appropriate question?

If my kid ever was subjected to a test with a question like this, the school officials would get an answer, from me, they'd never forget. And be ashamed to talk about.

[hypnotoad72]

Or if they were "encouraged" to add it...

It's a very bizarre question to begin with...

[Lerianis4]

What the hell? Who would support this kind of open-ended question on a test and secondly, why is it even the BUSINESS of the school what the students secrets are?

I'd be telling my children "Don't answer those kind of questions and if you see them on a test again, refuse to answer them and have them call me. I will them put the boot down!"

[hypnotoad72]

Agreed and well-said!

Home-schooling just bypasses the problem, and it resolves nothing as well. The parents have zero sense of community, and if they think home schooling will get their kids anywhere, it won't in the end...

[windrider160]

Most third graders aren't keeping any kind of devastating family secret, and the question is pretty damned innocuous except in families where crimes and/or abuse are happening and NO CHILD should be forced to keep such secrets.

[midwestkris]

While children may or may not be keeping secrets that matter, the bigger issue is that the children are being taught to act unethically. They are being asked to tell something that matters to them, and to violate a commitment they made to keep it private. They are having to choose between violating a trust and going back on their promise to keep a secret, and doing well on a test. With this question, the state is condoning unethical behavior. And yes, the little things DO matter. If we raise our kids to believe that small ethical violations don't matter, then ethics becomes a matter of the "size" of the violation of trust rather than the existence of the violation of trust. This is worse than a bad question.

[mitdgreenb]

Windrider - According to your son/daughter, there is a spare key under the doormat and the code to turn off the burglar alarm is ####.

D'oh! Seems like there are secrets even in families where there are no crimes or abuse. Thanks for playing. Next.