Secretary Paige and Mayor Williams fight for change

TownHall.com ^ | Wednesday, January 7, 2004 | by Armstrong Williams

[JohnHuang2]

President Bush's bipartisan education reform initiative, The No Child Left Behind Act, has increased public school education spending by 40 percent and has provided more funds to poor children than any other education bill in this country's history.

So why is the secretary of education, Rod Paige, so upset?

"The most egregious issue that we must confront as a minority is the achievement gap between the performance of minority kids and their peers," Paige said, while pacing behind a long lacquered table in his downtown D.C. office.

According to the 2000 National Assessment of Education Progress (NAEP) test, 63 percent of black, inner-city fourth-graders and 58 percent of urban Hispanic fourth-graders are unable to demonstrate a "basic" proficiency in reading. The major implication being that four decades after Brown v. Board of Education, our public schools remain unequal.

[JohnHuang2]

Wednesday, January 7, 2004

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[ohioman]

If these minorities can blame their low achievement test scores on inequality in this "white-dominated" society, then, can I blame blacks for the lack of whiteboys in the NBA?

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[Jalapeno]

This is actually the first time I have heard he is passionate about anything.

I don't like Paige (have said it before),I personally don't think Paige is capable of rally pushing anyone to accept vouchers et all. this push will have to come somewhere else. After reading Arnold's speech from the other day, I think that is an example of the kind of attitude that is needed in the Dept. of Education if it is to do any good.