Reply #9: Teaching to the test, Manipulating results, and unfunded mandates

[Az]

First it creates an environment where they are forced to teach to the test or lose their funding.

Second it is a known factor that when money is a factor people will bend things to get it. We have seen how the test results get fudged in various charter schools and programs in Texas. Kids mysteriously vanish from the school rolls without dropping out. Kids are pressured to opt out. All to keep the money flowing. Its a bad bad idea.

And third is the fact that the no child left behind is really a means to dismantle the public education system. Its the Bush Inc formula. Dress up as the champion of something. Strut around proposing programs. Get them put in place. And then do not fund them. This not only detroys the program but because the system you drop this one is struggling to make it work they defund all the other programs to keep it alive. Like George's shot at Nasa. You simply give them a white elephant they cannot take care of and then make sure they do not have the resources to keep it up. Its a win-win for the right. They dismantle the government and make it look like passing new programs is useless.