A Take-off on Bob Dylan’s old Protest Song

Blowin’ in the Wind

How many roads must a minority student walk

Before they believe he can learn?
How many classes must a girl endure
Before they believe math she can learn?
How many times must The Blueberry Story* fly
Before it is forever panned?

The answer my friend is blowin’ in the wind

The answer is blowin in the wind.

How many years must denial exist

Before truth is faced by those who refuse to see?
How many years must schools exist
Before they really teach, I ask thee?
How many times can educators turn their head
And pretend they just don’t see?

The answer my friend is blowin’ in the wind

The answer is blowin in the wind.

How many times must a man look up

Before he can see the truth?
How many years must one man have
Before he can mediocrity resist?
How many damaged children will it take till he knows
That too many futures have been grist?

The answer my friend is blowin’ in the wind

The answer is blowin in the wind.
The answer is blowin in the wind.

*The Blueberry Story is an apologist piece by Jaime Vollmer which was sponsored by
the NEA. In it Vollmer uses an analogy to quality control in business saying that schools
can’t reject their students as an ice cream business can reject bad blueberries. Thus, the
message is that poor performance of the schools has to be changed but the educators can’t
do anything until “society” starts sending kids prepared to learn to the schools. The
analogy breaks down on several levels but the point is educators are saying, “We confess,
it is everyone else’s fault, not ours.”

Paul Richardson
2010