Hispanic Enterprise - December 2007/January 2008 - (Page 53) FRANCIS SPECKER AP and promised to scrap it if he is elected president. Failing grades all around. And, during that same debate, there was not a word from these candidates about how to increase accountability, raise standards, and enhance student performance. Now the No Child Left Behind law is up for reauthorization, and it may have a tough time making it through a Democratic-controlled Congress that takes its orders from teacher unions. Those unions have made no secret of the fact that they would like to see the law tossed onto the scrap heap because they want to keep control over the educational process and keep their members happy by helping them avoid the annoyance of higher standards. And yet Congressional Democrats don’t have the stomach to kill the law outright. After all, how would that look to voters? So they’re trying to water it down by putting in so many loopholes that it is HISPANIC ENTERPRISE * THE BUSH ADMINISTRATION’S NO CHILD LEFT BEHIND LAW IS PERHAPS THE MOST IMPORTANT EDUCATIONAL REFORM LAW IN THE LAST HALF CENTURY AND CERTAINLY, THE MOST CONTROVERSIAL. ing schools to avoid providing parents and children with options. It is not personal. I’m sure that Democrats don’t set out to undermine the education of Hispanics. It is just one hand washing the other. Democrats are just taking care of the teacher unions that take care of them, at the expense of future generations. Hispanics constantly tell pollsters that education is one of their top issues. Well, now is the time to prove it. They should be defending the No Child Left Behind law so that, in a school system that has become much too tolerant of failure, more students have a chance to succeed. no longer effective. They want to make it harder for parents to get information about how their children are performing, while making it easier for low-perform- Ruben Navarrette, Jr. is a member of the editorial board of the San Diego UnionTribune, a nationally syndicated columnist with The Washington Post Writers Group, and a regular contributor of commentary to CNN.com and USA TODAY. 53 December/January 2008 http://CNN.com
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