Should the architects of 'No Child Left Behind' be blamed for the victimization of schools by parasites and predators?

Yes

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by Soheil Rezaee

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One of the biggest threat to education is when politicians get involved in "reforming" the system. Ask any academic profession about this and chances are they will talk about for hours how all politicians do is contribute more to the problem then to the solution. The No Child Left Behind Act is no exception to this trend. Only add the medaling of the Bush Administration and you have the perfect definition of a ruined educational system.

Now some have gone and blamed the architects of the No Child Left Behind (George W. Bush and Sand Kress) for the problems it has caused. Of course they are greatly to blame not for causing more harm to the troubled education system but for its unethical results that it has created.

Politicians have no real understanding of an educational system; all they understand is what ever their previous occupation was and how to achieve some easy votes. That is why politician would really get involved in reforming education; just so they may receive some votes for having "saved the children".

The No Child Left Behind sets universal standards across the country and requires schools to give out tests to measure the performance of the students. If the districts do poorly then they loss Federal funding and if they do poorly enough times in a row then the schools get shut down.

Now add in a mix of political ethics of the Bush Administration and the results are an Act that has benefited lobbyists and certain people rather then the public. Among the top 25 most censored news was a reporting on how Sandy Kress and a select few had profited from the No Child Left Behind. The profiteers include Sandy Kress, Bush Allies, and 300 CEO's. So how is this all possible?

When the bill was written (by Sandy Kress); it had a section that allowed the Department of Education to give out billions to the private sector for "needed supplies". It also allowed the private sector to come in and contribute to the standardized tests or planning of improving the educational standards. Hence it is only a few who had made billions of this "reform" while ruining our children's education.

This was made possible thanks to Bush's popularity in the Post-9/11 America and the fact that their were no Congressional hearings on the bill. It was just a simply vote and it went into effect. This of course being a Bush Administration plan; it was all about the profits for the private sector and not the needs of the public.

So the answer is an obvious Yes if any one has to ask if the architects are greatly to blame. It was never about the children but the needs of the business partners involved.

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