Friday, March 16, 2007

"No Child" Disconnect

The Blog | George Lakoff: Making Accountability Accountable | The Huffington Post: "...The issue of accountability in these cases is especially poignant when you consider the central role of accountability in conservative educational policy. The No Child Left Behind Act is a model of shifting responsibility and accountability to the lowest possible levels. Who is responsible for making sure that schools have the facilities and the funding for highly qualified teachers? Who is responsible for making sure that poor students have enough to eat when they come to school? Who is responsible for insuring early childhood education so that young children are ready to learn when they get to school? Is it the President who proposes the national budget? The Congress that designs programs and appropriates funds? The governors and state legislatures? The mayors of cities? The school boards? The taxpayers who refuse to pay for excellent schools?

According to Bush, it is the teachers, the individual schools, and the students themselves. Most important, it is not Bush. And it is not those who set the policies and the funding priorities. It is certainly not conservative politicians who are opposed to raising tax money to pay for excellent schools. This is exactly what one would expect from the conservative ideology of individual, not social, responsibility..."

No comments: