Stating the Obvious about Education
The departure of Arne Duncan, one of the most business-friendly (i.e. corrupt) members of the executive branch is a perfect opportunity for me to state the obvious about government education policy; that is, what at all costs the mainstream press will not say.
This regards the testing mania and "no child left behind" policies which have become a mantra on the State, local and national levels. Here is what these programs are really about:
First, you have to remember that the Republican party, where these policies originated, never does anything without their overwhelming purpose being to transfer money from the poor to the rich. Well, here is the little secret about anything that bases the money schools get on their "performance" on standardized tests: schools full of better off students are always going to do better on these tests than schools full of poor children, for multiple reasons that are so obvious that they do not even bear repeating here. Although you'd think this fact is blindingly obvious, it apparently never occurred either to Democrats or to the mainstream press. So, these policies exist, not to reward better performing schools, but to justify taking money away from the poor and giving it to the rich. That's what every Republican policy amounts to and this one is no different.
Sure, they have the added benefit of allowing Republicans to create "charter schools," turning education from a social responsibility into a profit center, with results not dissimilar from what happened when they did the same thing with our medical system. But that is a small matter compared to a deliberate plot to increase the permanent gap between the rich and the poor. A couple generations of this, and the permanent establishment of the American people as an underclass will be a reality. Oh, what a glorious day that will be!
This regards the testing mania and "no child left behind" policies which have become a mantra on the State, local and national levels. Here is what these programs are really about:
First, you have to remember that the Republican party, where these policies originated, never does anything without their overwhelming purpose being to transfer money from the poor to the rich. Well, here is the little secret about anything that bases the money schools get on their "performance" on standardized tests: schools full of better off students are always going to do better on these tests than schools full of poor children, for multiple reasons that are so obvious that they do not even bear repeating here. Although you'd think this fact is blindingly obvious, it apparently never occurred either to Democrats or to the mainstream press. So, these policies exist, not to reward better performing schools, but to justify taking money away from the poor and giving it to the rich. That's what every Republican policy amounts to and this one is no different.
Sure, they have the added benefit of allowing Republicans to create "charter schools," turning education from a social responsibility into a profit center, with results not dissimilar from what happened when they did the same thing with our medical system. But that is a small matter compared to a deliberate plot to increase the permanent gap between the rich and the poor. A couple generations of this, and the permanent establishment of the American people as an underclass will be a reality. Oh, what a glorious day that will be!
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