May 18, 2012
"I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character," Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
Standing in front of the government center Thursday, former NAACP president and community activist William Wright decried the investigation into teachers accused of changing answers from wrong to right on the 2009 CRCT exams as nothing more than a "witch hunt," saying that "these teachers were trying to give lower income children a degree of hope. We're not talking about right and wrong."
Wright's statements couldn't be further from the truth.
At its very core, the CRCT investigation is about right versus wrong. If the teachers changed the answers as alleged by a report compiled by state investigators, their acts were not only morally wrong, but were devoid of any shred of ethical decency and could be legally questionable as well.
In many ways, teachers are like police officers and firefighters in the eyes of the public.
They are expected by the communities in which they serve to be beyond ethical or moral reproach. They are entrusted with the education of our youth.
Modern-day teaching is as much about what's not taught in the curriculum as what is. Students, especially the younger ones who take tests like the CRCT, are acutely aware of teacher's mannerisms, personality, body language and tone.
Our future as a society is too important to allow teachers and administrators to tacitly send the message to students, "Hey, don't worry about the rules and regs, if you run into a problem or are faced with a challenge, don't rise above it, or bother doing all that work to overcome it, just find a way to bend the rules. It's easier that way."
To paraphrase John Kennedy, American society became strong because we challenged ourselves. We didn't take the easy path. And, when given the option, we chose the tougher path because we knew if we made it through it, we'd be all the better for it.
And, Mr. Wright, as much as you'd like to believe that there are some racial undertones to the investigation because, as you point out, "all the teachers involved were black," that dog just don't hunt.
The investigation centered around the schools where there were higher-than-usual numbers of wrong-to-right erasures. From that point, the investigators interviewed throngs of teachers, staff and administrators to drill down to the various classrooms where there was a prevalence of erasures.
Mr. Wright, are you honestly shocked that, in a system whose teachers are predominately black, that a sampling of those teachers would also be predominately black?
The teacher of the year for 2012 was black. Is the community to follow your logic and assume that there was some nefarious racially-motivated scheme to put her ahead of the non-black teachers? Absolutely not. It's beyond ridiculous as is your assumption.
The 2012 teacher of the year got there on her own merits, hard work and determination as did the 26 teachers and administrators who found themselves on the CRCT cheating list.
Comments
straightface 1 year ago
Well all I can say is lets just wait and see what the tribunals outcomes are and see what the school board is gonna do about 26 lawsuits!
Sister_Ruby 1 year ago
In the end, the Mathematics will prove beyond a shadow of a doubt, that there was cheating in the classes of those teachers. There is already precedent in the Atlanta and surrounding counties with admission of guilt, terminations, and School Board resignations (from a Board member ashamed of having let the children down!) Get very acquainted with ONE chance in FIFTEEN TRILLION (a trillion is a million million....) and then you might understand the likelihood that there was NO CHEATING. The lottery is nowhere near that low of a probability of winning.....but you still buy the ticket, don't you??? And you never win the big one!
Jack_Frost 1 year ago
Holy cow! JD talks sense for once.
Miracles really do happen.
truthsayer 1 year ago
To William Wright, it's not always the white mans fault. Deal with it. These teachers are guilty, plain and simple. And for you to come to this forum and raise the question of race is about as dumb as a one legged man in a but kicking contest. Can't ya'll stand on your own two feet without somehow every misfortune to your race ain't blamed on the white man. You are a good example of the thought process that goes on in Albany Georgia.
albanynative 12 months ago
Mr. Wright, NAACP, give me a freaking break! These teachers were fired for cheating and the principal for stealing. There were numerous teachers investigated and some had the decency to tell the truth, that yes, they were cheating. CHEATING IN SCHOOL!!! Basic ingredient to a good education, do your own work, don't cheat. And you want teachers like that teaching your kids? Make sense, since the only thing you have to say about it is they are black, you exude ignorance. The comment regarding giving lower income children hope, how about teaching them how to work hard for what's right instead of cheating and lying their way through society. And all the teachers were black, hello they were hired by the Dougherty County School System, run by Blacks, blame the hiring for the ignorance. Grand stand on RACE, ridiculous that everytime an "injustice" is done to a black that we have idiots like this screaming it's because they were black. Let's forget what they did to deserve to be fired, it's because they are black. being black is not a get what you want for free or is it??? We live in the most abundant culture for self and community improvement. Which society deems to have the worst reputation? Time to wake up NAACP and grandstanding on the racial soap box blacks, you need to get a grip on your inner city issues, educate your families, get jobs, be productive, quit cheating and lying and dealing drugs and having babies at 12 letting your 35 year old grandma raise them, pull your pants up, act right and start trying to make better role models, there are plenty of hard working blacks that don't believe in the race card crap you are pulling, look up to people like that and start making a real change, you can't change being black but you can change being stupid! DO RIGHT GET RIGHT
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