Re: FW: [ca-resisters] No child left too short

[ABurke5054@aol.com]

There is nothing in NCLB that forbids the purchase of reading materials for 
disadvantaged students, and that has been true for all the various incarnations 
of NCLB back to its origin in 1965.

Art

In a message dated 2/16/2004 8:31:50 PM Pacific Standard Time, learn@jps.net 
writes:
Date: Sat, 14 Feb 2004 14:18:34 -0800
To: ca-resisters@interversity.org
From: Peter Farruggio <pfarr@uclink4.berkeley.edu>
Subject: [ca-resisters] No child left too short

>Sent to the LA Times.
>
>According to the LA Times ("A small problem growing,"
>Feb. 12) because of nutritional deficiencies, North
>Koreans are not as tall as South Koreans. The North
>Korean prime minister has recommended stretching
>exercises for children as a means of making them
>taller.  He must have been inspired by No Child Left
>Behind and the National Reading Panel. Their approach
>is also to stretch children by artificial (and
>painful) means.  Children of poverty read less well
>than children of high-income families because they
>have less access to print. Instead of providing more
>print (e.g. better school and public libraries in
>high-poverty areas), No Child Left Behind prescribes
>(and demands) skill-building: e.g. phonics,
>vocabulary, and reading comprehension exercises.  Just
>like stretching,  it is painful, and just like
>stretching, it doesn't work.  Korean children need
>better nutrition.  Children of poverty with little
>access to books need better access to books. There is
>no substitute.
>
>Saying that we must insist on skills because children
>just won't read is like saying hungry children just
>won't eat. But studies clearly show that given
>interesting and comprehensible reading material,
>nearly all children find reading pleasant and
>eventually read.
>
>Stephen Krashen


George Sheridan