In 1996, Al Pope from the National Coalition for Advanced Manufacturers announced "Our goal is to change the way schooling is done." And, with the School-to-Work program, corporate and educational interests became further intwined, a trend that now reaches every level and comes in many guises. The ever-present crisis of American education continues, but few ask: does it have to be this way, and just who benefits? [mostly via]
posted by absalom on Jul 31, 2007 - 45 comments

Every Child Left Behind: "The federal No Child Left Behind law is threatening to wreck public education in Minnesota and elsewhere."

"That's what it was designed to do."

Focuses on my home state Minnesota, but the point is relevant to every state in the USA. What do we do to change it?
posted by mooncrow on Mar 15, 2004 - 34 comments

Bush wanted to be the Education President, not the Terrorism President. An older piece from The Nation on Bush's high stakes standardized testing from No Child Left Behind. It's not just oil companies that have the ear of the Chief, but the textbook industry, too.
posted by ahughey on Mar 6, 2002 - 14 comments

Does GW's great Texas education system really work? Teachers say Texas has given up on normal school subjects in favor of test taking strategy in order to produce nice round numbers for politicians. Kids spend the school year preparing day and night for massively hyped state wide tests instead of actually learning. Is this any way to educate our children?
posted by tomorama on Sep 10, 2000 - 26 comments