FCAT, A Discussion and Dying For Freedom

It is time for a statewide discussion on the merits of the Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test (FCAT). Important questions beg answers. How do we want to use FCAT as an accountability tool in our educational system? If the FCAT is to be the accountability tool we use to monitor how well our schools and students are learning it also must be accountable to itself. What use is a tool for accountability that has no accountability for its own reliability and validity? We need a series of town hall meetings around the state so that those in Tallahassee will know what Floridians want when it comes to FCAT testing.

FCAT is too important to the future of Florida's educational system to leave to its own devices when they have shown to be flawed. We can no longer stand by while testing corporations and connected legislators decide the fate of FCAT, and so, the fate of our public education system. Too many students rely on FCAT to pass to the next grade or to graduate. For far too long we the people have allowed our legislatures to run by proxy. We must take back our proxy and become more directly involved in our democratic process.

We see the tragedy of a war decided by proxy at the national level. We have watched some of our individual freedoms erode by our failure to act in our own best interest. Since when did it become effective to defend ourselves by acting out of fear instead of courage? It is out of fear that we surrender our freedom of movement to degrading searches at airports. Fear distracts us from protecting our ports at the expense of strip searches of our grandparents who only want to travel.

We find ourselves the victims of governmental Three Card Monty when our government distracts our attention through faulty intelligence. Political agendas take precedence over sound judgment that affects the lives of thousands who think they are acting out of patriotism.

Is how we handle FCAT that important to compare it to how we handle national security? The answer is yes, because it profoundly affects the education of future voters, participants of democracy, and leaders who will carry the legacy created in our time. We are too satisfied sitting on the sidelines. It is time we take action to exercise the rights our brave young people are fighting to protect in Iraq and Afghanistan. If they can die protecting our rights we should see to it that their deaths are not in vain by using the rights and freedoms they died protecting.

It is time for a statewide discussion on FCAT; it is the least we can do.