Fighting the Big Bullies in our Schools

I just read a wonderful blog post comparing the testing companies to bullies.  We all know the hallmarks of bullying -- daily abuse, an insistence that if you complain it will be worse, bystanders either doing nothing or egging on the bully out of fear of being bullied themselves.  We also know what we recommend -- talk to an adult, get help.  And parents and teachers are taught to recognize that a weepy or withdrawn child who perhaps doesn't want to go to school might be the victim of bullying.  In his blog, Phil Bildner draws connections to each of these characteristics of bullying.  Our stressed out children do not want to go to school. Testing and test prep have seeped into the daily lives of school children, if they or their parents complain they are met with threats, teachers and administrators go along, because they, too, are victims of this bully.  It's a compelling analogy -- and it calls on us to stand up to this bully.  It has to stop.