It appears that NCLB is facing some scrutiny. With President Bush's popularity scraping all-time lows, more than 50 GOP lawmakers are supporting a bill that could allow states to opt out of some testing mandates.
I've been particularly stunned by the insistence by Margaret Spellings that we make virtually no allowances for kids who need to learn English. We can teach them, but it takes time, and I'm afraid that will be true until Ms. Spellings and her team invent a device that will attach directly to the brain and transmit language knowledge to all the appropriate places.
Despite being a lifelong Democrat, I'll be the first to stand and applaud Ms. Spellings' achievement. I'll sign up to instantly learn Chinese and Korean.
However, in the absence of such an achievement, I'll continue to believe it takes two or three years for a typical teenager to master enough English to compete on tests. Naturally, if Ms. Spelling were to go to China and immediately pass such tests in Chinese, I'd have to reconsider my theory.
Till then, however, 20 years of experience tell me it is she who needs her brain altered.
Thanks to reality-based educator
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