2008 Woodie Awards
No Child Left Behind Act disadvantages minority children
Daniel Black
Issue date: 10/19/06 Section: Opinion
- Page 1 of 3 next >
The past two weeks I've written critically about No Child Left Behind, focusing first on Connecticut's recent criticisms and appeals, and then reviewing with a critical eye the actual education act itself. Both articles interpret the act in very negative light, as NCLB leaves little alternative for the rational, functioning mind. As negative as both articles were, however, neither of them purported perspectives that were outlandish or overly radical. This week's examination, in stark contrast to the two that preceded it, must propose things radical and outlandish indeed, as any alternative would require that I ignore the facts.
A glance at the White House's home page for NCLB reveals a morbid, almost frightening threat to the act's critics, "We have come too far to turn back now". It is as though we've discovered a serious err in our ways, but feel that the situation has become hopeless, essentially like we've crossed some threshold whereas before we could have saved the children, but now it is senseless to even try. This standpoint, as with nearly every other approach behind Bush's decision making, fails to even inquire the will of the citizenry Bush's government allegedly represents. A massive number of educational advocates, activists, and I are more than willing to withdraw from this cultish educational movement, even though much has already been invested, and work very hard to propel public education into a positive direction -for the benefit of all children, wealthy and poor, inner city and rural country, minority and other. Politicians backing NCLB don't know this; they don't ask and don't seem to care. The agenda of this administration operates on its own exclusive and very inwardly focused continuum. I think this reality was never more apparent than when, according to the Civil Rights Project of Harvard University, the Bush administration had "not commissioned independent research on the implementation of the policy [NCLB] and refused to admit rather obvious mistakes until virtual rebellion took hold in the field." (For those of us who are unfamiliar with the concept, Bush's retreat from criminal policy in response to "virtual rebellion" of America's citizens is an example of "submitting to people's collective will," something commonly seen in 'functioning democratic' societies, and occasionally seen in 'paper democratic' societies, such as ours, as well.)
A glance at the White House's home page for NCLB reveals a morbid, almost frightening threat to the act's critics, "We have come too far to turn back now". It is as though we've discovered a serious err in our ways, but feel that the situation has become hopeless, essentially like we've crossed some threshold whereas before we could have saved the children, but now it is senseless to even try. This standpoint, as with nearly every other approach behind Bush's decision making, fails to even inquire the will of the citizenry Bush's government allegedly represents. A massive number of educational advocates, activists, and I are more than willing to withdraw from this cultish educational movement, even though much has already been invested, and work very hard to propel public education into a positive direction -for the benefit of all children, wealthy and poor, inner city and rural country, minority and other. Politicians backing NCLB don't know this; they don't ask and don't seem to care. The agenda of this administration operates on its own exclusive and very inwardly focused continuum. I think this reality was never more apparent than when, according to the Civil Rights Project of Harvard University, the Bush administration had "not commissioned independent research on the implementation of the policy [NCLB] and refused to admit rather obvious mistakes until virtual rebellion took hold in the field." (For those of us who are unfamiliar with the concept, Bush's retreat from criminal policy in response to "virtual rebellion" of America's citizens is an example of "submitting to people's collective will," something commonly seen in 'functioning democratic' societies, and occasionally seen in 'paper democratic' societies, such as ours, as well.)
Be the first to comment on this story