"A child's learning is the function more of the characteristics of his classmates than those of the teacher." James Coleman, 1972

Saturday, April 07, 2007

Congressman Miller Dismisses NCLB Critics

When we ended up with the current version of NCLB, Miller and Kennedy found cover for their support by blaming the Republican majority. Now with Dem majorities in both Chambers, who will they blame for continuing to support their NCLB war against children, parents, and teachers, and public schools?

What is becoming increasingly clear is that Miller, in particular, is a chief water carrier for the education industry CEOs and the elite social visionaries on the Business Roundtable and the U. S. Chamber of Commerce. He doesn't have a clue or he just doesn't give a damn about a generation of children being sacrificed in this war against public schools and education for democracy. He has no empathy with parents who are protesting to the school boards about the incredible shrinking curriculums in their children's schools, and he obviously does not care one iota that teachers who take their ethical responsibilites seriously are leaving the profession faster than the scantily-prepared corps of clueless follow-the-script replacements can fill their slots. Here is what he had to say about the growing chorus of NCLB critics in today's New York Times piece:
“You can get into a lot of petty politics, but there’s a mandate coming from across the country for us to improve this law,” Mr. Miller said. “There’s no other way for Congress to go. The C.E.O.s, the venture capitalists, all of them have commented on the need for America to improve its educational system. It’d be a major shock if we reneged on our federal leadership.”

Mr. Miller, who hopes to get legislation through committee before the summer, added, “This should not be underestimated by a bunch of Lilliputians trivializing the issue.”

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