Re: america's choice

[QCao009@aol.com]

In a message dated 12/15/2006 1:53:23 P.M. Eastern Standard Time,  
monty@fairtest.org writes:

If 16 year olds will be separated based on test scores, barring not  only 
changes in school and in preschool but also in a wide range of other  societal 
aspects, low income kids, kids of color, those whose first language  are not 
English, those with disabilities, will be sorted out into some  pretense of voc 
training (like McDonalds as was previously  posted).


Monty and Jerry:
 
Having worked with ELLs the past thirty years in 45 out of 50 states, it  
sometimes saddens me to realize that it is not the immigrant child, not the ESE  
student, nor is it simply a matter of color or a matter of class.  Some of  
the poorest children I have worked with are white children in Mississippi and  
Apalachicola in rural communities which have been forgotten.  NCLB and its  
test-driven engine is a joke of a reform, whether it is fully funded or mostly  
lipped by our legislators and administrators.  There will be another report  
somewhere down the line that tells us how much other countries have forged ahead 
 of us to pump up the color-coded paranoia that this Administration touts as  
their way of doing something.  If you superimpose pictures of Katrina and  
pictures of Baghdad, reality will speak for itself.  Creating more special  
programs has not solved our curriculum issues and our school structural blind  
spots.   Privatizing our institutions just means more control in  the hands of a 
more disconnected group with a siege mentality.  Unless we  create a tidal 
wave for change, we have all become lobsters, simmering to a slow  boil and dying 
quietly under the dead weight of ignorance and denial.  We  create this 
Presidency.  We are responsible for this monstrosity called  NCLB.
 
Do we have the will to put a stop to this idiocy?
 
Quan