Re: [care] Turn the Paige

[Victor Steinbok <victor.steinbok@verizon.net>]

At 12:55 PM 3/12/2004, Monty Neill wrote:

> Interesting piece from Nation - MoveOn going after Paige, focusing on the
> funding issue, essentially ignoring the damage caused by high-stakes
> testing. MoveOn folks and their allies need to hear about the damage of
> testing and AYP and make it part of their work. Monty

A week ago, The Nation had a collection of pieces on the UCS report 
concerning the mishandling of science by the Bush administration. I sent a 
letter back, making note that UCS made no references--and nether has The 
Nation to date--concerning the cherry-picking and laying about "science" 
when it comes to education. It makes perfect sense for the UCS to skip the 
issue--it makes a much stronger presentation to focus only on the hard 
sciences, which is what the membership of UCS is. But for a publication 
like The Nation to miss an opportunity like this, especially with states 
and legislators falling off the NCLB bandwagon like dead rodents, is 
inexcusable. My letter was a bit more extensive than that, but that was the 
main point. Obviously, I got no response. Now they are bringing heat on 
Paige (as much "heat" as they can be expected to bring--Paige's thermal 
suit is made with asbestos and teflon, so he's pretty well insulated), and 
still manage to miss the opportunity. One may begin to suspect that this is 
by design. This is one reason why conservative radio and TV talk shows are 
so much more successful in brainwashing the American public than any 
liberal or progressive publication can ever hope to be--they don't miss 
opportunities, even if they have to make up lies to make us of them, they 
are not afraid to mix it up even if the particular charge may be against 
their core beliefs, and they never shy from sliming the opposition with the 
same sludge that their chosen candidates roll in every day. This allows the 
Republican conservative office-seekers to take the higher ground, while 
their pseudo-journalistic allies throw mud.

On the flip side, there have been more complaints about the direction the 
current administration has taken on education from Republicans than from 
Democrats.

        VS-)
        VS-)