Re: Orchestrated Blame Game Signals End Times for NCLB?

[aburke5054@aol.com]

-----Original Message-----
 From: jhorn@monmouth.edu
 To: arn-l@interversity.org
 Sent: Sat, 2 Dec 2006 6:40 AM
 Subject: [arn-l] Orchestrated Blame Game Signals End Times for NCLB?
  
  ...“Too much power to resist change”—that's too rich! How about something more accurate like “too little power to resist an overreaching onslaught that would eventually be brought to its devastating conclusion by the dawning awareness of the American people who came to understand that their educational system was being destroyed, their teachers pushed into becoming jailers, and their children turned into test-taking automatons who knew little and understood less.”
 ______________________________________________________ There is nothing of an "orchestrated blame game" in the conference papers, as should be clear to anyone who read them. They are in fact quite balanced and sober in their assessments both of the strengths and of the weaknesses of NCLB and they don't blame parents and teachers at all. Many people on this list have such a schematized view of the world that they say anything concerning public education that comes under the cover of a conservative organization is part of a plot to discredit public education (a "fascist" plot no less, according to Schmidt, one of this list's resident fantasists. 
  
 NCLB requires states to improve their schools until all their children reach proficiency. The sad fact is that states are not rushing in to make significant changes in their schools - for many reasons - they don't know what to do, they don't want to take responsibility, they don't want to spend more money, and they don't want to rock any boats. Another sad fact is that many educators do not want changes because they have selfish interests in keeping things just the way they are or changing them only to benefit themselves. I believe that with so much misinformation, disinformation, distortion, and deceit being spread about NCLB, a good part of it spread by the public education establishment itself, that Americans are probably pretty confused about it. However, there is no evidence that the American people believe that public education is being "destroyed" and I believe they are going to scoff at people who say that schools are doing all kinds of ridiculous things and it is entirely the fault of NCLB. 
  
  This list has only one message: That the only problems in American schools are that they don't receive enough money and that educational reform is driven by people who want to privatize public education. Continuing this absurdity is a disservice not only to parents and children, particularly parents and children who would benefit most from improvements to schools, but also to public education itself. 
  Art
    
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