Pundits React To NCLB 

Under the title “Lowering the Bar,” the editor of The Doyle Report (http://thedoylereport.com) has this to say in his October 13, 2001 commentary:

 “As a device to give the impression of prowess, lowering the bar is among the oldest ploys in recorded history. Accordingly, it came as no surprise to see The New York Times reproachfully report that various states were doing precisely that, lowering the several bars set by NCLB so they could claim that they were in compliance.... I was surprised at the speed and brazenness of states and localities lowering standards to comply with NCLB. (I expected a decent interval of pious silence but that t’was not to be.) In retrospect, of course, this explains precisely why NCLB garnered majority support in both houses of Congress, a sort of unholy alliance between Democrats and Republicans who rarely talk to each other let alone vote with each other. The key compromise that made the legislation palatable to Republicans was permitting states to set their own standards. It reconciles with a supposedly robust federal role with a century and onehalf tradition of jealously guarded local control ... In this format, Uncle Sam says, in effect, ‘In exchange for my money, Thou shalt set standards using what ever cut-off point you like.’ A national watchdog with no teeth. One more example of form over function, political posturing rather than statesmanlike resolve. A long remove from the solutions we crave. Or is it?” And if you want to read the full text of Rich Gibson’s skreel, “NCLB Will Fail in the Same Ways the Oil Invasion Failed But People Will Lose Until We Get Beyond Capitalism,” you can download it at www.pipeline.com/~rgibson, or simply satisfy yourself with the following tidbit:

“With NCLB, teachers will be more and more alienated from their kids, and each other. Some teachers in wealthy districts might actually do well, while teachers in poor and working class districts will suffer. Merit pay connected to test scores will buttress this. Even the most conservative citizens may be offended by the loss of local, and parental, control the NCLB represents – not allowing parents to opt children out of exams, for example. Some will raise hell and home school. Suits will be filed, to trail up to the stacked Rehnquist Court… NCLB, after all, was passed by the same bi-partisan congressional majority that leapt into the oil war. In some cases, the same companies, like McGraw-Hill, not only profited from the tax shift that ruined the schools they now say they will correct, but also profit from their ties to political leaders and they will be writing the textbooks in Iraq. NCLB and the oil invasions flow right into one another.”

Editors Note:

I once offered to teach a course at a local university entitled, “Politics In Education.” The course was rejected with the comment: “Students don’t need to know about that. It’s not important.”