Counter-Recruiters Push for School Access

Staff / Truthdig Jun 9, 2008 The No Child Left Behind Act forces high schools to allow military recruiters access to students. Counter-recruitment groups that pitch alternatives to military service are working around the country to try to limit the impact of the Pentagon's $3.5-billion effort. One organization in the Los Angeles area is pushing, with some success, for equal access. Dig deeper ( 1 Min. Read )

Liberating the Schoolhouse

BLANK May 1, 2008 UCLA professor Wellford Wilms, one of the nation's leading authorities on the crisis of public education in America, offers a must-read counterpoint to Bush's blather about "No Child Left Behind." Dig deeper ( 45 Min. Read )

Making the Grade

Sharon Scranage / Truthdig Aug 7, 2007 Students aren't the only ones who worry about grades -- teachers also have to meet performance standards and follow curricula dictated by their districts. However, as educator Sharon Scranage points out, teachers working with socioeconomically disadvantaged children have to deal with even greater challenges without the aid of a specific "core" curriculum to address their students' special needs. Dig deeper ( 3 Min. Read )

The Education Blame Game

Sharon Scranage / Truthdig Jun 22, 2007 It's not just kids who get left behind in an educational system that fetishizes data and quantitative measures instead of qualitative progress. Teachers, particularly in lower-income schools, end up punished and humiliated because they are judged to be "underachievers," according to educator Sharon Scranage. Dig deeper ( 2 Min. Read )

Leaving Children Behind

Paul Cummins / Truthdig Jan 31, 2007 The No Child Left Behind Act's relentless focus on testing blinds us to the egregious funding shortages that plague our nation's public schools. Dig deeper ( 3 Min. Read )

Pink’s Plea to Bush

Staff / Truthdig Apr 23, 2006 The pop star Pink stretches a bit from her standard fare with this protest song about Bush--which includes the lyrics, "How can you say no child left behind? We're not dumb and we're not blind What kind of father would take his own daughter's rights away? What kind of father might hate his own daughter if she were gay?". Dig deeper ( 1 Min. Read )