NCLB under Bush has been often described as totalitarian, an instrument of destruction to weaken schools and their support systems, pushing those who have into private charter schools to escape the disaster of public schools, while continually seeking to destroy public schools and shake loose the useless educators who couldn’t do anything else–maybe go into politics–and send them into unemployment or to work minimum wage. I was thrilled to read the following….

“When teachers are forced,against their better judgment, to focus on teaching test content to the exclusion of almost everything else,” shares Gerald Bracey, “I can only conclude that the high-stakes testing movement nourishes totalitarian regimes.” What a great quote from in a review of Education Hell: Rhetoric vs Reality by Susan Ohanian, a fire-brand herself, shared at Education Review.

Ohanian goes on to quote Bracey again multiple times…here are some of my favorites, making this a must-read book for me since I so seldom get excited by book reviews (unless I write them of course (smile)):

• “It would be one thing if all of this testing could be linked to what happens later in life or the health of the economy, but it can’t. No research shows anything other than test scores predict grades and other test scores.” (p. 105)
• People will believe anything you say about public schools as long as it‟s bad…. (pp. 39-40)
• America churns out about three scientists and engineers for every one new position in those fields…. (p. 125)
• In regards to global competitiveness, “those who would lay the burden of competitiveness on the schools are fools and liars. “(p. 141)

Find out more of Gerald Bracey (recently deceased) at Education Disinformation Detection and Reporting Agency.

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Everything posted on Miguel Guhlin’s blogs/wikis are his personal opinion and do not necessarily represent the views of his employer(s) or its clients. Read Full Disclosure