George W. Bush once wanted to be known as the "Education President," and he's certainly given the United States' public an education:
don't elect morons. It's interesting to listen to him talk of holding students and teachers to higher standards, when in all likelihood, he himself would no have met those standards. He has been the recipient of the world's finest education, for free, simply because of his
name. Yet, I'm willing to bet my dumb public-educated ass could trounce him on any standardized test, and I bet you could too.
I voted for George W. Bush in 2000 because I too wanted to hold schools accountable for their education. As someone who has survived some of this nations worst public schooling (my 3rd and 4th grades were completely useless), I've had to "unlearn" half the crap I was taught. Bush's solution to our public schools was to add another layer of bureaucracy through standardized tests, then transfer federal funds from poor to already
rich schools. I've always opposed most federal testing. In high-school I purposely "zeroed" some of my tests and encouraged others to do the same because I knew it was schools like mine that suffer most from "teach for the test" policies.
The low scores breed a culture of self-defeatism that affects even those of us who score well on such tests. The last thing we need is some know-nothing cowboy telling schools like mine what to do. But not only is standardized testing a step in the wrong direction for our failing schools, but Bush won't even fund it properly. They're so quick to cry "tax-and-spend-liberals," yet at least "tax-and-spend" is a reality (if simplified) as opposed to Bush's "spend, spin, and spread among your friends." It's not surprising that Bush's education policies, like all his policies are failing. It's never too late to impeach.