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September 27, 2007
We couldn't resistBoardBuzz couldn't resist this tidbit in the Washington Post. Sure, we told you about the NAEP scores yesterday, but what's even more interesting is President Bush's comments on them.
"Childrens do learn," he said Wednesday. Indeed they does.
The Post calls the gaffe, "a classic malapropism, the sort of verbal miscue that occasionally bedevils him in public speaking and provides critics and the media easy fodder for ridicule. Subject-verb agreement actually is taught at Andover, Yale and Harvard, the president's alma maters, but in an unforgiving job that requires him to speak hundreds of thousands of words with cameras rolling, the tongue sometimes veers off in mysterious ways -- and someone always seems to notice. "
We noticed alright. Sure, we all slip up here and there, but we're not all subject to on-camera public scrutiny when we do. On the other hand, the Post points out,
His latest misstatement masked a serious issue, of course. As Bush's first-term No Child Left Behind law comes up for reauthorization, many in Congress are attacking it from both the left and the right. The president is trying to preserve what he sees as one of his most significant domestic achievements, an effort to increase accountability through rigorous standardized testing. The latest report card released by the National Assessment of Educational Progress gave him some ammunition.
No doubt this most recent slip up gave some additional fuel to Bush's opponents' fires.
Others offered a more measured assessment. "Unfortunately, this administration has dropped the ball on education reform by shortchanging this law to the tune of $56 billion since its enactment," said Sen. Edward M. Kennedy (D-Mass.), chairman of the Senate education committee. He vowed "to provide the solutions and the resources needed to ensure that students and schools can succeed."
BoardBuzz recommends you check out NSBA's recommendations for the law's reauthorization. Do it for the childrens.
Posted September 27, 2007 3:15 PM | No Child Left Behind
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