The Educational Farce:
Today's New York Times editorializes on one of the failures of the "No Child Left Behind" policy by pointing out that many states have opted out of the federal testing program, preferring to substitute their own dummied down versions of assessment.
The schools, it should be noted, cannot do what society as a whole refuses to do, place high value on education. If you push a job off onto someone else with nothing more than a "do a good job," you'll end up with the least possible benefit, if even that. As long as parents can't agree that learning is the responsibility of the student and can't be accomplished for the student, the student isn't going to learn. Tell the kid he must score well on a test, and he'll probably learn to score well on a test. If that's all you're concerned about, that's all you'll get.
Many states have complained that the federally mandated "No Child Left Behind" policy included funding promises that have never been fulfilled. This, it has been argued, is the the primary reason the programs put into place have fallen far short of their advertised success.
However, the same people who advocated the policy were also the people who have worked for decades to gut federal funding for education. "No Child Left Behind" was never intended to promote education, it's intent is to mask the manipulation of education to benefit the few who can guarantee their children's education.
To make a leap, the same folks who begin their speeches with "We must protect our borders" are the same ones who desperately want that illegal imigration to continue unabted. These are the people who want to proclaim "No Child Left Behind" so mask. When that pol wants to kiss your baby because some guy with a camera is near buy, make sure he doesn't draw blood.
On a Personal Note:
This month marks the fourth year that I've been posting to the blog. That's a lot of hot air, and I'm not even running for office.
It all started when my friend, Andy, who has been in the computer business for a long time and sold me my first personal computer back in the mid 1980s, suggested the site to me. About two and a half years later, he said, "You ought to keep a blog." And I said, "Andy, I've been posting for over two years to the site you suggested to me." He said, "Oh?"
There are millions of bloggers around the world, and lots of anonymity in a crowd.
Today's New York Times editorializes on one of the failures of the "No Child Left Behind" policy by pointing out that many states have opted out of the federal testing program, preferring to substitute their own dummied down versions of assessment.
The schools, it should be noted, cannot do what society as a whole refuses to do, place high value on education. If you push a job off onto someone else with nothing more than a "do a good job," you'll end up with the least possible benefit, if even that. As long as parents can't agree that learning is the responsibility of the student and can't be accomplished for the student, the student isn't going to learn. Tell the kid he must score well on a test, and he'll probably learn to score well on a test. If that's all you're concerned about, that's all you'll get.
Many states have complained that the federally mandated "No Child Left Behind" policy included funding promises that have never been fulfilled. This, it has been argued, is the the primary reason the programs put into place have fallen far short of their advertised success.
However, the same people who advocated the policy were also the people who have worked for decades to gut federal funding for education. "No Child Left Behind" was never intended to promote education, it's intent is to mask the manipulation of education to benefit the few who can guarantee their children's education.
To make a leap, the same folks who begin their speeches with "We must protect our borders" are the same ones who desperately want that illegal imigration to continue unabted. These are the people who want to proclaim "No Child Left Behind" so mask. When that pol wants to kiss your baby because some guy with a camera is near buy, make sure he doesn't draw blood.
On a Personal Note:
This month marks the fourth year that I've been posting to the blog. That's a lot of hot air, and I'm not even running for office.
It all started when my friend, Andy, who has been in the computer business for a long time and sold me my first personal computer back in the mid 1980s, suggested the site to me. About two and a half years later, he said, "You ought to keep a blog." And I said, "Andy, I've been posting for over two years to the site you suggested to me." He said, "Oh?"
There are millions of bloggers around the world, and lots of anonymity in a crowd.
posted by Jim | 12:49 PM
1 Comments:
No-Friend-of-a-Politician-Left-Behind Act. As for Clinton/Obama, check Krugman's column today in the NYT.
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