In a fiery Salon column, Garrison Keillor tells Democrats to stop bashing No Child Left Behind and Reading First. Teaching kids to read well is a lot more important than Bush bashing.
“Nice, caring, sharing people” — not “Republican oligarchs in top hats and spats” — are running the schools, Keillor writes. The failure to teach low-income students to read competently is their failure.
Hear hear, amen, right on.
I think that the first school that can come up with a constitutional justification for NCLB should be rewarded with a huge grant. No need to worry, though -- it's not there.
ReplyDeleteDan
Sadly, Dan, the libertarian argument doesn't fly. NCLB is at least as constitutional as any other law coming out of Congress. The fact that you and I don't necessarily agree with these laws doesn't change the reality on the ground.
ReplyDeleteI tolerate NCLB as an alternative to federal money with *no* accountability, although in an ideal situation there'd be no federal involvement at all.