New Project: My Eye On The Debate Over Obama's Reform Of "No Child Left Behind"

Obama to push 'No Child Left Behind' overhaul

Please accept this post as public notice of my intent to keep an eye on the debate over "NCLB".  
(Notice: NCLB was not an original bill.  It is merely a name that was slapped upon the federal "Elementary and Secondary Education Act".  This act must be reauthorized periodically. )

Since President Bush and Senator Ted Kennedy got together to craft the NCLB legislation there has been an endless set of sniping at the bill.  It was clear from the start that both men reached a compromise.  Kennedy wanted greater school spending which he got.  Bush wanted accountability for the funds spent, which he got as well.   There was a stated goal that by the year 2014 every student in America would be proficient. 

Unfortunately the promise of this legislation did not survive the insurgent attacks against it and, in some cases the flaws of the bill itself.

For the past 9 years I have listened to wanton attacks against this legislation.  Those people who themselves should be put on trial per their parentage of the struggling children, their class room instruction given to the students and their legislative/executive control over the struggling schools have instead been emboldened as they form together and wage an attack.

Listen to the video from the actor-vist who is founder of the new "Bitter Black Coffee Movement" ("Black Coffee Movement") as she blames NCLB for the present failings of the inner city schools in America.  No rational person could conclude that a federal law that has about $56 B in funding could possibly destroy public education.  Furthermore the schools that she speaks of where in a destroyed state long before the name "NCLB" was even thought of.    Then again we have to assume that "rationality" is a mandate for the debate.  At present it is not.  

Black children have been used for political pawns for quite a long time.  Sadly today we have Black operatives as starting running backs, wide receivers and defensive linemen in the "Political football game" that Malcolm X told us about between White Conservatives and White Liberals.

THE BLACK AGENDA

In the present "Smiley vs Sharpton" debate two like minded individuals are having a debate on tactics rather than substance or end game.  These two are operatives within the Black Media Establishment.  They are debating over a nebulous term called "The Black Agenda".  The debate appears to center around the question of if the President Of The United States should be seen as a component of the "Black Agenda". 

The ironic point of all of this is that for the past 9 years I have heard Black media operatives slamming NCLB.  The drive time talk show host on the local Black talk radio station called it "the Houston Fraud" on one day and then would attack it for being underfunded the next day.  In the evening Bev Smith, syndicated on the same radio station would bring Reg Weaver, former head of the National Education Association on her show to plot against NCLB.  Weaver would appear on the days that Rep John Conyers was not a guest as the two plotted on how to get Bush, Cheney and Rove arrested for high crimes and treason.

My basic point is that those who talk about a "Black Agenda", and certain education is a central part of it, fail to see how their own politicking and bias plays a strong hand in derailing the actual attainment of these end goals.  The same people who argue that the adversary has no good intention for the education of Black people and thus we must fight them - also fail to make note that the PREVIOUS FIGHTS have it where their "favorable forces" are now in power, running these same schools that are failing.

It simply is not possible for the "self-diagnosis" and "self-prescribing" to continue if..............our intent is to have effective results being had in the educational system. 

Today there is a full deck stacked in their favor.

• The President is favorable
• The Congressional line up is favorable
• The local school systems where Black people live in our highest concentrations are battles that have already been won

Only the present economic crisis that hovers over all of America threatens the free flow of money to fund these initiatives.  At the same time I can think of no better time to apply the "people over profits" meme that we have heard used far too often against corporations by those seeking to have them open up their wallets.  

Today's fiscal constraints will instead force the adults who are most proximate to the problem to become more fully involved with the management of the desired outcomes from the children in their community.   Those who have argued for more state based funding for local education will have a dose of cold water applied to them as the hole in the state education budgets at present disavow them of this dreamscape.

If there was ever a time to put the Black Establishment to the test and have them make use of their 9 tentacles for the actual attainment of our "permanent interests" rather than in support of their political party - the time is now.

As an observer and a critic, however, I am not convinced that they have any interests that go beyond "feigned moral outrage" and leaning upon external authority figures without them ever turning around to the aggrieved people and managing the desired outcomes upon the backs of the people who, if reformed, would benefit the most from these enhancements to the educational system.

Please be aware - I am watching beyond this legislation and instead keeping an eye on the political forces who all seek to defend their own interests.

For some of these forces they are more content with agreeable elected officials and agreeable policies that don't contain "accountability" but instead promise endless resources.   If no improvement is made in the end - so be it.  They merely are empowered to continue their "struggle" motions which keeps them unified.