Re: David Wasserman II

[aburke5054@aol.com]

Pwmjoy's arguments strike me more as more aking to rantings on AM radio 
than the mature comments of an educator.

Can anyone seriously argue that George Bush's silver-tongued rhetoric 
about childrens is learning hoodwinked political neophytes like George 
Miller and Ted Kennedy into signing on to NCLB and continues to 
enthrall them into supporting it?

NAACP may have signed the Joint Statement, but the fact remains that 
NAACP argued in federal court that states should enforce the "letter 
and spirit" of NCLB" and it specifically identified NCLB's 
accountability and improvement requirements among the provisions that 
should be enforced.

La Raza says, "The National Council of La Raza (NCLR) believes that 
English language learners (ELLs) must be included in the No Child Left 
Behind Act’s (NCLB) system of assessment and accountability.Prior to 
enactment of NCLB, ELLs received little attention from the education 
community, outside of Title VII directors and other bilingual education 
advocates. NCLB has raised the visibility of ELLs among policy-makers 
and educators."  MALDEF says "Federal, state, and local school 
officials must ensure that ELLs are fully and appropriately included in 
NCLB accountability systems so that schools focus upon meeting the 
academic needs of ELLs."  So whle both organizations welcome 
constructive changes in NCLB, both support NCLB's accountability 
provisions in their widest outline.  It is wildly unbelievable to 
suggest, as pwmjoy does, that George Miller, Ted Kennedy, NAACP, LA 
Raza, MALDEF, and other leading civil-rights and advocacy organizations 
are so stupid and so corrupt that they don't recognize a a "fascist" 
plot against children right under their noses.

What changes would I like to see in NCLB?  For starters, I would like 
to see recourse for parents and children when districts and states fail 
to meet their obligations to improve schools.  Listen for the howls.

Art

-----Original Message-----
From: pwmjoy@earthlink.net <pwmjoy@earthlink.net>
To: arn-l <arn-l@interversity.org>
Sent: Sat, 3 Nov 2007 6:36 pm
Subject: [arn-l] David Wasserman II


The following delusional, silly, wacky, vapid, ignorant statement from 
this
off-the-cuff commentator regurgitates more of the same half truths and 
denial
that fill ARN space and time much too often: “NCLB is "fascist?" This 
must be an
example of serious conversation  about assessment that Monty tells me 
that ARN
is about. I think just about everybody would like to see significant 
changes to
NCLB. But only in the delusional world of ARN are NCLB's accountability
provisions a "fascist" tool to privatize public education. La Raza, the
Mexican-American Legal Defense Fund, and leading progressive and legal 
advocacy
organizations support NCLB, in its widest outline if not in every 
detail. Kind
of hard to paint them and George Miller and Ted Kennedy as "fascists." 
Except,
of course, in the wild, wild world of ARN.”

In fact, it is NCLB’s accountability provisions that have been 
criticized by the
NAACP, signer to the “Joint Statement on NCLB”. Here’s a piece from the
statement:regarding concerns about NCLB: “Among these concerns are:
over-emphasizing standardized testing, narrowing curriculum and 
instruction to
focus on test preparation rather than richer academic learning; 
over-identifying
schools in need of improvement; using sanctions that do not help 
improve
schools; inappropriately excluding low-scoring children in order to 
boost test
results; and inadequate funding.”

LaRaza’s openness to changes in NCLB was made clear by its president, 
Raul
Gonzalez, who said: “..we¹re very open to a constructive conversation 
about how
we should approach renewal of NCLB.  We¹re really not wedded to any 
specific
policies or strategies right now (underlining is my own) and would love 
to hear
from outside-the-beltway experts about how we can achieve better 
instruction,
curriculum development, and assessment for ELLs” 
(http://sdkrashen.com//pipermail/krashen_krashen_sdkrashen.com/2006-Septe
mber/000608.html).
This same web reference ends with a response from Jim Crawford, Stephen 
Krashen,
and Kate Menken who point out that what LaRaza wants from NCLB cannot 
be
delivered by it without a major overhaul. One must conclude that, like 
the NAACP
and given its openness to discussing changes in NCLB, it too will see 
the light
and sign the “Joint Statement”.

It is now cavalier of the off-the-cuff silly-willy commentator to admit 
that
there must be “significant changes to NCLB”, something absent from many 
earlier
rants of this naïve huckster. What “significant changes” does  this 
non-deluded,
non-wild, wild world stalker of absolute truth have in mind? Such 
should be his
commitment to the readers of ARN to post . He probably won’t for fear 
of echoing
the very people he has so maligned.

As for his difficulty with the connection between NCLB and fascism: (1)
Individuals of all kinds make mistakes. Miller and Kennedy signed on to 
the
spirit of NCLB only to find its implementation far short of the desired 
outcome.
They are responsible for mistakes they made supporting it and are 
currently
attempting to correct them. On November 1, 2007, Kennedy stressed the 
importance
of the arts in education in a talk at Walnut Hill School. He said that 
“A
student whose life is enriched by the arts has a better chance of 
staying in
school, achieving in school, and succeeding after he or she graduates 
from
school. Academically and socially, through self confidence and improved
communication skills, a young  mind is broadened and a life enriched."
(http://kennedy.senate.gov/newsroom/press_release.cfm?id=C2791749-BA10-49
62-B953-6F2635E6B102.)
The tragedy of NCLB is the reduction and elimination of art, music, 
dance, and Oimpulse to support NCLB, a lie that emerged from all the 
fakery that went on in
the Houston, Texas, school system which is well documented for those 
who care to
look. (2) The classic definition of fascism is the wedding of 
corporations with
the state. This administration is the most fascist government we have 
ever had.
Everywhere one looks, there is a corporation ruling the government 
roost with
Bush et.al doing corporate bidding, e.g., Blackwell in Iraq, the 
Exxon-Mobil
fiasco in California, and the recent veto by Bush rergarding health 
care for
children, something he said the state should not get too involved in, 
i.e., this
is the territory of private
  enterprise. The same with NCLB, a boondoggle opportunity for 
corporate profit
and influence and the pressure to streamline and lock-step the delivery 
of
curriculum. This is fascism. It is all around us, and our off-the-cuff
commentator is simply playing ARN for all he can get out of his 
misguided and
cliché riddled burps.

pwmjoy@earthlink.net
EarthLink Revolves Around 
You.-------------------------------------------------------
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