I've tried not to believe the latter and rational thought has helped me overcome the former but when you see things like what is currently playing out in Indiana you just have to wonder where the strings are and who is pulling them. I have used the letters CF more in the past week than I have in the rest of my life and 'surreal' has become part of my daily lexicon. Then I saw it repeated here
"Pence has now thrown the entire process into a surreal place, with an outcome almost impossible to gauge"
from the well respected and hardly left leaning
Brian Howey. Please follow me past the Daliesque orange cloud for more.
Emperor Pence
What is surreal?
- An executive order that can negate years of work, done at the behest of the governor, by an entire state department that is lead by an elected, constitutionally defined state official.
- A republican super-majority in the legislature that will and is rewriting state statue to strip power from that elected, constitutionally defined state official.
- The choice of 1.3 million voters being ignored and over-written by the actions of the governor and the legislature.
- The governor thinking that he can manipulate the will of the federal government (I know, we have a lot of that going around right now).
Federal law specifies what must be done to qualify for No Child Left Behind and how it is to be carried out. Never mind that NCLB is a piece of hokum based on a false premise - that is the subject of another diary. What matters is that Indiana has accepted money (as has every other state) from the federal government under the dictates of that act and the state is beholden to follow the terms of that agreement.
It calls for standards and accountability. It calls for standardized tests to measure that accountability.
This governor has twisted every agreement with the federal government to be able to accept money but make it look like he is upholding Indiana principles (see Healthy Indiana Plan 2.0). Indiana couldn't use Common Core standards, we had to write our own (again the topic for another and what would be very complicated diary) Indiana Standards. Along with that we had to write our own assessments; they not only had to adequately assess the standards but meet the requirements of NCLB. Mind you, there was a LOT of money and effort poured into this entire endeavor but it was important to do things the "Indiana" way (but still get the federal money for it).
Then, when it turns out the end result is standardized tests more lengthy and rigorous than the SAT or MCAT, the governor, on his white horse, rides to the rescue to save little 9 and 10 year old Hoosiers from the burden and stress by way of an executive order. How, HOW I ask, can an executive order effectively rework two years of study and negotiation by groups of highly qualified and educated people?
Where does the hubris come from that makes actions like this thinkable? Mr. Pence, and a very large percentage of Indiana voters, identify themselves as Christians. Mr. Pence and those who vote for him, perhaps feel that this religious affiliation anoints him to rule as their god is telling him to. Or is it another echo chamber that is telling him that these actions are warranted? Is it the voice of ALEC, the echo of Koch money that provides that assurance?
Pence, like so many politicians, has surrounded himself with a cadre of people and organizations that create an alternate reality. That reality consists of ideas, ideals, theories and bibles, not facts, research, data and people. In the Pence Hoosierland an executive order will magically create a test that will assess students, teachers, schools and districts and at the same time meet the requirements of NCLB while not overly taxing our children with testing. Because although ISTEP testing starts in two weeks, and the test had been vetted and published, and schools have taught (to the test) and scheduled, he can magically produce an alternate assessment that will still be valid and be used to make or break children, teachers, communities.
This is the surreal land of Indiana, where the pieces don't fit together to make a picture. But as I told my family in Wisconsin in 2010, everything that is happening in Indiana will be and is coming to Wisconsin - and it played out, step by step, law by law, executive order by executive order. Be careful other states (Illinois) because the surreal world of Hoosierland is coming soon to a governor's office and/or legislature near you.