MANHATTAN — Comedian Louis C.K. became the darling of the anti-high-stakes testing movement after he went on a Twitter tear against the Common Core standardized tests Monday.
"My kids used to love math," the Manhattan-based television and stand-up star wrote in his first of a dozen tweets about the subject to his more than 3 million followers. "Now it makes them cry. Thanks standardized testing and common core!"
As the comedian's third-grade daughter is set to start this year's round of standardized math tests on Wednesday — like thousands of other kids across the city — these words clearly touched a nerve: They were retweeted by more than 6,600 other people and "favorited" by more than 8,500.
C.K. posted several math problems that his daughter has faced on practice standardized tests "written by pearson or whoever the hell," he wrote, referring to testing giant Pearson, which develops the tests for New York State.
Look at 4 of part a. And the point isn't that it's too hard. Just read #4. Please. pic.twitter.com/5bnUlaXG5b
— Louis C.K. (@louisck) April 28, 2014It's this massive stressball that hangs over the whole school. The kids teachers trying to adapt to these badly written notions.
— Louis C.K. (@louisck) April 28, 2014He called the questions "poorly written and not tuned to the intended age" and received applause from parents and educators across the country, beckoning him to speak up more and attend rallies, like a large one featuring dozens of grassroots groups "Taking Back our Schools" scheduled for May 17 at City Hall Park.
A New York City public school speech therapist with the twitter handle @zealousidler wrote, " Thanks for the love. We educators/therapists are bummed as well."
Rage has been mounting against the controversial state tests aligned to the national Common Core standards, which are supposed to foster critical thinking skills. Besides a growing number of students opting out of the exams, a wave of schools across the city recently staged protests against the English exams that were given earlier this month. Many educators and students said the questions were inappropriate and confusing.
C.K., a father of two girls, praised their teachers, but said that school has changed in recent years.
"It's all about these tests. It feels like a dark time," he wrote on Twitter.
In typical Louis C.K. caustic yet self-deprecating fashion, he concluded: "Okay I'm done. This is just one dumb, fat parent's POV. I'm pissed because I love NYC public schools. mice, lice and all."
