common

Note to Self:

Businesses love to use the word "commons" when they are, in fact, aiming to please America's nobility rather than the commoners.  Hence, Kierland Commons in Scottsdale is not designed for you or anyone else who buys clothes at Ross and mows one's own yard and who uses toilet paper rolls as tissues.  The "commons" should be a shared place, a democratic location that belongs to the public. Thus, never allow yourself to apply the words "common assessment" to a standardized test.  What you spoke about yesterday was hierarchical rather than democratic, vertical rather than horizontal, created by a private interests rather than the public school teachers.  Next time you are in a meeting with fellow teachers, be sure to use the term, "standardized tests" or, if you prefer, "heavy-handed, mindless bubble sheet created to rank students for the purpose of pleasing the authorities, raising home prices and adding an Exceeds banner to a school's front gate."

Sincerely:
John