"DSK" wrote in message
...
Possibly so, but any organiztion that is consistantly attacked will unite
against it's attacker.


Jeff Rigby wrote:
Yes and it started being attacked 20 years ago because it resisted
testing.

And it's being attacked now for supporting Democrats.

It's alligator-chomp-style partisan politics, pure and simple.

Actually, I'm glad to hear that NCLB may be doing some good for the
nation's children although I'm still dubious. But you should open your
eyes to the fact that this is primarily a club to beat down the political
influence of teachers unions, and secondarily to gain a strangelhold on
public schools (for the purpose of strangling it, of course, so that smart
poor kids won't be elbowing the well-connected children out of the way,
later in life).

Gesh, all they would have to do was nothing, the system in place would
insure it. Wow, you need to see a councelor, your thought processes are
seriously bent.



Among the more enlightened, testing is a method to determine objectively
how well you are doing and to shift resources to those areas that need
it.

Really? How does NCLB "shift resources to those that need it?" All I've
heard is that those who flunk get fired & lose funding. Great way to help
them bootstrap up! Compassionate conservatism at it's finest... yank the
rug out from under, then kick 'em when they're down.

That's always accomplished on the local level. Money is provided as a
reward for success. There are provisions to punish (by withholding rewards)
the district if schools in the district don't measure up. This forces the
district to shift resources (teachers) to bring up poorly performing
schools.

Kick them when they are down. It can seem that way but that's the way we
are built. Rewards and punishment work. Just giving the money to districts
that don't perform will do little.

Is being fired, and losing your state license (with the very high
probability of being unable to get a license in any other of these United
States, since NCLB is Federal) "withholding the carrot?"


If they can't pass tests that are no more difficult than the tests that
their students have to take they shouldn't be accreditied to teach.

Agreed but that's not what's happening. A lot of good teachers are getting
booted, teacher/student ratios are higher than ever, and lots of people
who might have become teachers are giving up the idea. It's a train wreck.

Here in NC, the governor gave a short speech the other day on the effects
of NCLB and how the state education system is trying to deal with the
worsening shortage of teachers. May not be a problem everywhere.



Again your "view" on Republican goals is 180 degrees out of true. We
LIKE small business as they can allow the small guy to get his share of
the pie.

Really? Like no-bid contracts?

... In cases where massive resources (trucks, cranes, personel) are
required and time is of the essence you give the cotract to the best corp
with a proven track record.

What about cases where the company has no assets in the field except good
political connections? What if the company words the contract such that
they can shrug it off, not do a damn thing, and still collect a
percentage? What about cases where the company is given charge of gov't
property, and "loses" it?

All these things are happening, to the tune of hundreds of millions of our
tax dollars. Next time you're watching C-Span, check the Halliburton
investigation. They're on the hook for about 1/2 billion (with a b) in
fraud, non-performance, kick-backs, "lost" inventory, etc etc. And that's
just one company, just what they've been caught at SO FAR. In most cases,
it was military personnel complaining about non-performance that brought
it up.

And another thing, isn't it funny how the "liberal biased media" doesn't
seem to be paying much attention to this.

Yep, it's a meritocracy all right. Work hard, be honest, try to get
ahead... and lose the pie to man who schmoozes with the politicians...
it's the new American way.

Better wake up and smell the coffee, next thing you know you'll be saying
how the Democrats are fiscally irresponsible...


Yeah, I don't like the fiscal irresponsibility practiced by this
congress.

Guess what, it's not Democrats. And the signs were there all along. This
bunch thnks that "providing good gov't" is a bad joke, they are out for
the money and of course the perks of power.

In Bush we have a mini Reagan

Reagan was ten times the man and 50X the President that Bush Jr is.
He genuinely cared about the good of the country, even though he thought
trees cause air pollution. He often consulted with Democrats, and even
non-Washington non-politicians, to get the straight word. GWB doesn't care
about any of that, all he wants is to get his own way, to enrich his
cronies, and to sell the package to his 'base' (meaning YOU).

Agreed. I hope you take a close look at your principles and see which
party is following them more closely.


I constantly do and while many of those principles are only given lip
service by the republicans in power, the democrat party stand in
opposition to them.

Umm, it looks very much to me like the Democrats are opposing the abuse,
fraud, bad governance, greed, and poor policy more than they're opposing
good principles.

But hey, the Bush-Cheney crowd have spent hndreds of millions of
dollars... including our tax money... to convince you that President Bush
and his allies in Congress are good hearted people. It would be a shame if
all that money was wasted, wouldn't it??

... That's why it's very important that you guys choose a presidential
candidate that holds traditional values.

"We"? I just have one vote. Kerry would not have been my first pick, but
there is no doubt in my mind (and probably not much in yours, by now) that
Kerry would have been a better President. Too late now.

There I'd take exception, If Reagan is 50X the man that Bush is then Bush
is 100 times the man Kerry is. Lieberman on the other had would I think
have been a better choice if only to unite us and stop the political
bickering that we now have.