I know when I teach
There are things that must be taught
Which the state mandates
As a rule of thumb
About seventy percent
Belongs to the state
And thirty percent
Belongs to me and I don’t
Know who’s thumb it is
Maybe if I don’t
Give the state its percentage
And try to short them
They’ll cut off my thumb
Like Japanese Yakuza
And wrap it up nice
And send it to my
Students - a message not to
Trifle with the state
So if I see some
Wise guys in the school hallways
I’ll just play it cool
and make sure that they
notice a multiple choice
test on my clipboard
and not the writing
my students generated
yesterday about
standardization
as the worst enemy of
creativity
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Posts
Dear Poetry Friends,
1 year ago
The image of your thumb as a message to your students is amazing!
ReplyDeleteI might be mistaken, but I remember the "rule of thumb" having a truly awful history. Wasn't it part of British law that a man could beat his wife with a stick, as long as the stick was no broader than his thumb?
ReplyDeleteTakes the Standards analogy into a whole new misogynistic direction...
And thirty percent
ReplyDeleteBelongs to me and I don’t
Know who’s thumb it is
my favorite lines....
Oh, Eric. It's brilliant. I sort of want to cut off my own thumb in protest of the state.
ReplyDeleteyou have said it for me, dear.
ReplyDelete