Jelani Nelson drove to Sacramento for months, recruited allies, and won: Academic standards at UCs matter
“Show up. Shock them out of their comfort zones. Let them know business as usual is over,” Nelson wrote. “Politics is a repeated game, and we are establishing a new equilibrium.”
Legislative bill season is here again. Nelson reports no new dumbing-down bills yet — knock on wood. That’s not luck. That’s the result of politicians understanding there’s organized opposition watching every move.
This is how you win. Not with one angry tweet. Not with one testimony. You show up again and again until they understand: every vote is being watched. Every bill is being tracked. The education bureaucrats thought they could quietly dismantle standards while no one paid attention. Now they know better.