Margaret Spellings is * in a skirt.

[Skidmore]

Same pigheaded, one solution to all problems kinda good ole girl. At the National Press Club, she pushes ou the idea that NCLB should be implemented in the colleges and universities of our nation. Now there's a surefire way to create cookie cutter graduates and stifle critical thinking. More federal intrusion into our state and local school systems and underfunded and unfunded mandates to contribute to the rising costs of education.

She keeps referring to the world as "ever flattening." Maybe the * administration will all fall of the edge someday if they go far enough.

[SoCalDem]

1. The thing that gets me is this..

I read somewhere that the government "support" of schools is about 7%..and for that measly 7%, they sure do throw their weight around.. perhaps the solution is to get the Federal govt OUT of schools completely, and just raise the state taxes to cover the 7%. If we want educated people, we have to pay for it..It's just that simple..

Education, health care and infrastructure shpould be at the TOP of every state's list of things to do.

[Skidmore]

2. I agree that we need to invest heavily in education

but throwing all our time and money at testing programs is not the answer.

[SoCalDem]

3. The kind of testing they do now is NUTS..

As long as there have been schools, there have been tests..and every teacher knew who was learning and who was not.. the ones who failed, were held back.. It was just that simple..

We had chapter tests, unit tests, midterms and finals..

and of course the "big" tests were for college entrance and they were to gauge what you knew...no one I ever met "studied" for an SAT.. The whole idea was to see what you had learned..not to cram for a high score:eyes:

[LWolf]

5. That's true.

Of course, you'd see a hell of a lot fewer tests if they weren't mandated by the feds.

Then you have to take the state versions out; the high-stakes testing fiasco was incubated at the state level before bush made it to washington, and many states have their own versions that run side-by-side. In my former state, for example, there are "AYP" and "API;" two different numbers to compare based on the same tests, different formulas.

Then you'd have to invest in some education of the adult public population. After being saturated with testing brainwash for several years, people need help letting go of the convulsive reach for "scores."

[Buzz Clik]

4. The Secretary of Ed is marginally literate.

She was on NPR last night, and it was a constant stream of "woulda", "gonna", "havin'", and pronounced "and" as "n". And the irony was she was complaining about the quality of college education. What a marvelous example she sets.

Maybe we have to forgive the Harvard/Yale educated president for talking like trailer trash, but the Secretary of Education? (Of course, she's as qualified for this position as Browie was for FEMA.)