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Populär Culture Review
when many think standardized testing is antithetical to teaching. Because
these teachers were demanding that their needs be addressed, they were
criticized as bad teachers who cared more about themselves than their
students. At the end o f July 2011, the Los Angeles Times published an
op-ed piece titled “The M yth o f the Extraordinary Teacher.” It was
written by a Los Angeles public school teacher who points up a problem
in the school System: we are demanding “teachers be excellent in
conditions that preclude excellence.” All the children in our schools, she
said, “deserve to have not only an extraordinary teacher but a teacher
who has time to read their work, to listen, to understand why they’re
crying or sleeping or not doing homework.” Her article elicited public
responses.
P