Dogma Versus Reality

Thomas Sowell - July 19, 2005 - TownHall.com

There have been many bitter complaints from teachers and principals about the Bush administration's "No Child Left Behind" act -- and more specifically about having to "teach to the test" instead of doing whatever teachers and principals want to do.

Now the results are in.

Not only have test scores in math and reading shown "solid gains" in the words of the New York Times, young black students have "significantly narrowed the gap" between themselves and white students.

The signficance is that all students are doing better as teachers are forced to return to teaching. In this article Sowell points out the refusal of the teaching community to recognize the failure of their philosophy of being a "guide on the side" instead of a "sage on the stage". This expermiment with the minds of our students has been proved wrong through four decades of student failure, but the teacher's unions and the teaching community keep insisting that it is all the parent's fault. The school system never accepts responsibitility for anything.

This is an important article that every parent should read.