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FOCUS POINT: NCLB Public School Choice Requirements

COMMENT: I offer a respectable apology


Submitted by mark spyder thompson, ph.d. on 10/12/04 3:31 PM

Thank you Diane for you comments. I do apologize for my shrill over generalizations about those involved in the ESEA legislation. I must stand by my comments though in terms of its overall intent. There are numerous organizations who have been preparing for its passage for more than a decade, simply because it represents a unique opportunity for them to have access to the more than $600 billion spent each year on public education across the nation.

Our society suffers greatly from the association of the qualitative value of a person to the size of their economic indicators. If we continue to reify that in schools through overlaying a system of accountability upon them that is ultimately controlled by who gets or who doesn't get money, then we have created a future that is clearly representing the best qualities of humanity. The assumptions behind the standards, the testing sources, the creation of educational materials--all these are determined by relational values of wealth.

Of course schools will appear to change when they are threatened with the cutoff of funds. Little kids stop misbehaving when you threaten them too. Do we assume that coercion and threats constitute valid principles for motivating qualitative change?


COMMENT THREAD

NCLB Public School Choice Requirements

Submitted by Todd Ziebarth on 10/12/04 05:37 AM



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