Too badly broken to be fixed

MANIFESTO

Thus said new American Federation of Teachers President Randi Weingarten in her inauguration speech about the hideous No Child Left Behind Act.

Weingarten ... argued that the No Child Left Behind Act is, in fact, leaving behind the very children it was intended to help, and has outlived its usefulness.

“These are the children who have the least opportunity outside the schoolhouse walls to be exposed to all the elements of a well-rounded education: the arts and physical fitness, the ability to think critically and to argue logically, the value of active citizenship, and a knowledge of different people and places. NCLB slams the schoolhouse door on what makes up modern civilization and replaces it with multiple choice questions,” she said.

“We need to prepare students for 21st century jobs. Employers say that they are looking for workers who can devise new solutions. But how will kids who have spent 12 years learning to keep their pencil marks inside the bubbles ever be able to think outside the box?”

Now, I haven't been a member of the AFT in nearly thirty years, and I have to admit I miss the contentious nature of the organization. It's certainly good to hear a fiery orator talking the talk. The soporific Reg Weaver of the much larger National Education Association could take a lesson from Ms. Weingarten.