Jackson Free Press

No good news for the administration on the "No Child Left Behind" front, either, according to The New York Times:

The first nationwide test to permit an appraisal of President Bush's signature education law rendered mixed results on Wednesday, with even some supporters of the law expressing disappointment.

Math scores were up slightly but eighth-grade reading showed a decline, and there was only modest progress toward closing the achievement gap between white and minority students, which is one of the Bush administration's primary goals. In many categories, the results indicated, the gap remains as wide as it was in the early 1990's.

Mr. Bush, meeting with Education Secretary Margaret Spellings at the White House, said he was pleased with the test. "It shows there's an achievement gap in America that is closing," Mr. Bush said.

Sigh. Why can't we just wake up from a bad dream like Bobby Ewing did and figure out the last five years were a bad dream? These people are truly, truly ruining this country. And we've let them. Sigh.

Previous Commentsshow

Ladd, I can't figure out if Bush KNOWS what he is saying is complete bullshite, or not. Because, I'm starting to think he's so far divorced from the reality of minority life that he may just NOT KNOW. Seriously. I mean, his MOTHER said that the unfortunate survivors of the hurricane should be HAPPY living in a sporting arena on a cot with thousands of other people they didn't know just because they were POOR. So, I'm not quite sure he got a good dose of "reality" growing up. He's just not all there when it comes to truly understanding someone else's plight. But, there I go being a social worker again, and excusing people from responsibility. ;)

Lori G

Oct 21 2005

This looks like a good place for some of my all time favorite education quotes... If a nation expects to be ignorant and free, in a state of civilization, it expects what never was and will never be. ñ Thomas Jefferson, 1743-1826 You teach a child to read, and he or her will be able to pass a literacy test. ñ George W. Bush (Townsend, TN) Feb. 21, 2001 --------------- Education, then, beyond all other devices of human origin, is the great equalizer of the conditions of menóthe balance-wheel of the social machinery. ñ Horace Mann, 1796-1859 The public education system in America is one of the most important foundations of our democracy. After all, it is where children from all over America learn to be responsible citizens, and learn to have the skills necessary to take advantage of our fantastic opportunistic society. ñ George W. Bush, May 1, 2002 --------------- No slogan of democracy; no battle cry of freedom is more striving then the American parentís simple statement which all of you have heard many times: ëI want my child to go to college.í ñ Lyndon Baines Johnson, 1908-1973 Rarely is the questioned asked: Is our children learning? ñ George W. Bush (Florence, SC) Jan. 11, 2000 --------------- Modern life means democracy, democracy means freeing intelligence for independent effectivenessóthe emancipation of mind as an individual organ to do its own work. We naturally associate democracy, to be sure, with freedom of action, but freedom of action without freed capacity of thought behind it is only chaos. ñ John Dewey, 1859-1952 Then you wake up at the high school level and find out that the illiteracy level of our children are appalling. ñ George W. Bush (Washington, DC) Jan. 23, 2004 --------------- Our progress as a nation can be no swifter than our progress in education. -- John F. Kennedy, 1917-1963 And if you're interested in the quality of education and you're paying attentionÖ, why don't you volunteer? Why don't you mentor a child how to read?" ñ George W. Bush (St. Louis, MO) Jan. 5, 2004 Thank god he isn't paying attention or interested in the quality of education... Or he just might mentor one himself.

Rex

Oct 21 2005