'Two Teachers And A Microphone' Rap About Standardized Testing

They served Los Angeles' youth, got served pink slips, and now they are serving up fresh educational rhymes over the internet.

The anonymous teacher-turned-hip hop duo, Two Teachers and a Microphone, have gained a small, educational cult following for their informative rap videos that protest teacher layoffs and ask the public to take a stand.

This week, Two Teachers are back at it again with a new video about standardized testing and a specific message directed towards policy makers: "we teach human beings, not test takers."

Their catchy chorus captures the essence of their frustration:

"Because the kids we teach we are so much more than a value assigned from a test score. And the same is true for the teachers too so don't use it as a tool to bury our schools."

WATCH:

The youtube account that hosts their videos provides a blurb about the teaching renegades:

We are both products of LAUSD schools and have spent our careers teaching in LAUSD schools. We love what we do, and we feel that our public school teachers are compassionate, creative and critical to the intellectual and emotional success of our youth.

They urge the public to call school board members and demand that they rescind all pink slips.

Visit youtube for all five videos, or follow them on Twitter @teacheronthemic for future updates.

Comments

[Alicia Westberry]

03:21 PM on 06/09/2011

This is an interesting tactic. Maybe it'll get more people to pay attention to important issues. Standardized testing really is 1 of the worst, if not the worst, thing for a student's education. Teachers shouldn't be lumped into 1 particular group. They're not all bad, but they're not all good; either. What's important is that the correct evaluation tools need to be in place to accurately determine teacher merit. Really, the entire education system should be overhauled.

[seachange525]

12:00 AM on 06/05/2011

My heart is breaking with the truth that is being spoken here. I taught for 10 years in public and private schools. I also fed kids cereal in my class who hadn't had breakfast; let them nap sometimes because their parents kept them up all night; tried to 'be there' for the kid(s) that needed me most each day; counseled, tutored (for free) after school, created innovative lessons plans (some of my kids were hard to get rid of at the end of the day!) and, in one school, my class even achieved the 99th percentile on a standardized test in my subject. I wrote and directed plays for my kids, reported abuse, etc. For this I was never paid as much as $30k a year, was verbally abused by students and parents, spent most of my 'vacations' ill or prepping for the next set of classes. 10 years was all I could take. I am so sorry, because I loved those kids so much and I loved the TEACHING part of teaching. This rap song is so true it made me cry.

[Neal Kingston]

07:00 PM on 05/22/2011

URL got cut off. If you click the link it will go to the wrong song. Should go to "Test Prepping"

[Neal Kingston]

06:57 PM on 05/22/2011

As a former high school science teacher, educational reform leader, developer of large scale assessments, and music lover I enjoyed the song. It is critical, however, to discern between assessment systems and accountability systems. Either can be problematic, but more frequently it is the latter. For my own musical take on the topic see http://www.youtube.com/user/wwwCETEus#p/u/3/PqYiu8I4Eq8

[Eugene Berkovich]

05:23 PM on 05/22/2011

Fire Republican politicians, not teachers. Teachers actually do their jobs and serve people. Refuglicans only serve their and their corporate buddies' interests!

[Sharkcellar]

05:21 PM on 05/22/2011

Word.

[DarkandStormyNight]

05:09 PM on 05/22/2011

Koodos to the Two Teachers. You may not agree with them, but their argument definitely provides food for thought - and isn't that what teaching is all about?

[graffitijoe]

01:48 PM on 05/22/2011

No wonder US schools are doing such a bad job of teaching the kids - victimhood is what they are spouting all the time - thanks to teacher's unions.

[Eugene Berkovich]

05:18 PM on 05/22/2011

Teacher's Unions are the only thing protecting our schools from total demise under a republican anti-education attack

[graffitijoe]

08:03 PM on 05/22/2011

Total demise is already upon us. Here's an old HP headline from March" U.S. Falls In World Education Rankings, Rated 'Average'".

[Sharkcellar]

05:22 PM on 05/22/2011

So dumb.

[samtee]

09:59 AM on 05/22/2011

With what we put into our education system and what we get out of it, yes i would say they're under attack and rightly so.

[gallo48]

12:14 PM on 05/22/2011

With all due respect "samtee", tell me the last time you looked a district, state or even national standards for the "core subjects?" I can tell you for the school district that I teach in and the school district in which my children attend, spellling in language arts is not to be tested. Tell me about what they ask teachers to do. Tell me about how they are rigorous. Please do tell me how those same standards are specific in how critical thinking should be taught and how it should be measured.

Last but not least, please enlighten me about the professions that allow you to continue to get paid for getting a below average score and allowing to be promoted. What kind of accountable educational system do you propose that should be evaluated from the top down not the bottom up (or at least a holistic view)? If the majority of workers are paddling their hardest and the leaders haven't the slightest idea to what port or destination they are going, isn't your attack misdirected?

[samtee]

01:33 PM on 05/22/2011

More reason for the unions to go.

[DarkandStormyNight]

05:27 PM on 05/22/2011

I think you lost him at critical thinking skills.

[captainindustry]

09:37 AM on 05/22/2011

Folks, it is worse than you think. Any time something is actually working, the powers that be destroy it. Right now, here in Texas, there is a bill to put troubled students into ROTC. It won't help the troubled students, and it will destroy ROTC, which, IMHO, is doing a magnificent job.

Flooding perfectly good classes with special needs students is another prime example. Don't start in with the benefits of main-streaming. The special needs students are given carte blanche to disrupt really good classes at their leisure. They have rights and privileges that extend curiously far beyond good students.

[captainindustry]

09:32 AM on 05/22/2011

So. Were you wearing parachute pants and Air Jordans when you recorded that???

[Teacheronthemic]

12:15 PM on 05/22/2011

Nah, Fila high tops, neon biker shorts and a Starter jacket...

[captainindustry]

02:44 PM on 05/22/2011

Fanned for your outfit. faved for your attitude

[Venicelady]

09:14 AM on 05/22/2011

Fire the politicians, NOT the teachers!

[fanofariana]

09:23 AM on 05/22/2011

Rather FIRE the AynRandists kleptoparasites.

[DarkandStormyNight]

05:10 PM on 05/22/2011

Hell yeah.

[Sharkcellar]

05:23 PM on 05/22/2011

Word.

[Oldbuck]

08:02 AM on 05/22/2011

Public education has served this country well for over two hundred years Children learn what we make them interested in learning if you encourage their accomplishments in education instead of trying to close their school you will find it will still work. We must learn that education is only what we do with it.

[jamesd856]

08:00 AM on 05/22/2011

Eliminate tenure and you would get a new wave of more current and enthusiastic young teachers into the mix instead of fat and happy has-beens that are only concerned about their pensions.

[eceresa]

08:56 AM on 05/22/2011

Yep. If it's opposite day.

Back in the real world, you'd lose experienced, effective teachers and they'd be replaced by enthusiastic, ineffective, inexperienced (and inexpensive) rookies.

When stupid, destructive "reforms" like the ones that are being protested in this video are pushed on schools, non-tenured teachers have to put on masks and rap about it on YouTube. Tenured teachers can stand up in staff meetings and say, "This isn't good for the kids. We shouldn't do it."

[pauldununfola]

12:27 PM on 05/22/2011

Such a broad generalization just makes you look ignorant. It takes several years for a teacher to fully develop their teaching "chops", and become really effective in the classroom. As for "teacher tenure" its really only due process rights that protect the worker from unjust firing by administrators that try and make parents happy.

Two teachers were fired at my school this year and neither I would consider "fat and happy has-beens" nor did "tenure" stop them from being fired. Get your facts straight before flaunting your ignorance. Thank you and have a nice day.

[KitchenCabinet]

08:00 AM on 05/22/2011

"Teaching is not a matter of filling buckets. It is a question of lighting fires." Don't know who said it but it is absolutely true. Education and learning are about critical thinking. Judging by the many comments here, people are mistaking being overly critical and negative with critical thinking. Our students are our future and our teachers are the guardians and formative forces of that future. Treat your teachers well, honor and respect them if you want a bright future.

[hoagie76]

08:38 AM on 05/22/2011

F&F. so true. what's even worse is that there is even a decline in teaching critical thinking at the higher learning level as well.

[captainindustry]

09:30 AM on 05/22/2011

Plutarch said, A mind is not a vessel to be filled. It is a fire to be ignited. There have been many variations on that theme. I think one of the astronauts used it when he was pretending to be on the moon.