Duane Tron promotes new program: No Congressman Left Behind

From Duane Tron, February 29, 2008
Subject: Re: Margaret in Dreamland...a new full-length feature or just an old rerun?

This is precisely why I am promoting a new NCLB program which will be called "No Congressman Left Behind." It is a remedial program that will ensure that ALL members of Congress can pass a basic test on the Bill of Rights and the US Constitution. It will also provide members with the ability to utilize basic reasoning skills on issues pertaining to ethics, honesty, principles, and integrity. It will ensure that by the year 2010 EVERY member of Congress will be proficient on Constitutional issues, will be honest, will not waste taxpayer money, will not lie, will work for the good of the American people and not the special interests, and will restore a viable US economy.

Any member who cannot pass the Constitution Test will be required to enroll in one of their charter schools for four years. If they cannot pass the basic reasoning skills section they will then have to spend four more years in a monastery located in a remote mountain region of Eastern Africa where they can't cause any further damage to Americans or our economy.

I remember the "Good Old Days," when education was so outstanding unlike today. I remember when the kids quit school at 16 and went and worked on an assembly line in an area factory. Why? Because I remember when over 50% of ALL students couldn't do the school work and dropped out of school and moved on. I remember when in those wonderful Mecca's of educational excellence we had huge numbers of classmates who never learned to read or write above a basic level. I remember starting the first grade with over 235 kids and we graduated 136. I remember the kids who could never read and were seated in the back of the room so they wouldn't bother anyone else and when they did they were kicked out of school. Oh! I remember when!

I remember reading that when WW II broke out how the military had to set up remedial reading and math classes as the overwhelming majority of servicemen who were recruited to pilot aircraft couldn't perform basic reading or math. They had to send them to special classes so they could learn how to navigate aircraft, ships, and perform technical jobs and all of these men held high school diplomas. Imagine that??! You know, back in the golden era of education when everyone was well educated and schools were at the top of their performance and mission in educating America's children!

I help run a program for at-risk learners from a city school system. Do you think any of these brilliant lawmakers have ever sat down with any of us and asked the practical question, "will we ever be able to achieve 100% proficiency with children in reading, writing, spelling and math? Nope! They've never asked any of us who have spent our lives in the trenches if something like this were possible. Why haven't they asked us? Ask a silly question! Because we aren't going to tell them what they WANT to hear. Do all children learn the same? Nope! Can all children learn at the same rate? Nope! Can ALL children pass a proficiency test? Nope! Why not? Because some children are taught in classes with numbers of 25 or more and the teachers can't devote adequate time to every child in the room. Makes sense to those us who possess common sense. Maybe this is why politicians can't understand.

These fools honestly believe if they MANDATE something everyone should and will do it. Then they FAIL to fund what become the unfunded mandates! They also don't understand the basic principle of Life 101 and that is not everyone is born with the same level of intelligence, the same arsenal of skills to work with, the same caring parents, the drug and alcohol free parents, the parents who make huge salaries, and on and on. If the playing field was level for ALL children from the start we would still have children who won't master all of these skills. But try explaining that to a STUPID CONGRESSMAN! Yes Sir! We need to institute a "No Congressman Left Behind" program to help these uninformed and ignorant souls.

In the meantime teachers will just have to keep wasting class time teaching to a bunch of worthless tests that no one will remember six weeks later! In fact most won't remember any of it a week later. I propose that I dig out a bunch of the tests I gave in my social studies classes in the 1970's and 1980's and have Congressman Jim Jordan come back and take them and see if he's actually smarter than an eighth grader.

After all we don't want any Congressmen left behind now do we??!!

Duane Tron
St. Paris, OH

From John Curry, February 29, 2008
Subject: Margaret in Dreamland...a new full-length feature or just an old rerun?

Spellings, "Right Now Today"

What does she demand? 100% proficiency! When does she demand it? Right now, today!

Wonder if anyone shared this graphic with the Secretary last week, as she was ostensibly in Jefferson City to pump NCLB. (With the Missouri Senate caving to the ABCTE lobby last evening, who knows what else?)

Based on the rate of proficiency gain in reading since NCLB began in 2002, Madame Secretary, Missouri children will never reach 100% proficiency in reading, much less in 2014. What are they smoking, indeed? From KOMU:

Secretary Spellings Weighs In

February 21, 2008

JEFFERSON CITY - U.S. Secretary of Education Margaret Spellings was in Jefferson City Thursday to drum up support for keeping the No Child Left Behind Act.
Spellings talked with Missouri education officials about the necessity for children to be able to count and read. She made it clear that she thinks the No Child Left Behind Act is working towards that goal.

"I don't know about you, but I want my child on grade level right now today. Right now today," said Spellings.

But while some Missourians agree with the goals of the legislation, they don't necessarily agree with how to achieve them.

"I don't think anybody would disagree that the goals are goals we need to set. We all need to be accountable, we don't argue with that at all," said Missouri National Education Association President Chris Guinther. "It's just how you get to those goals, and how schools are given the flexibility to be able to determine what their students need."

Since the introduction of No Child Left Behind in 2001, Missouri fourth graders haven't shown significant improvement in reading proficiency. In 2002 and 2007, 32 percent of tested students were reading at a proficient level. There has been an increase in math proficiency over the past few years. In 2000, only 23 percent of Missouri fourth graders were proficient in math and in 2007, that number was up to 38 percent. But Missouri educators say that No Child Left Behind goals are unrealistic.

"It basically implies that every child can learn at the same time, and that by 2014 every child is going to be proficient," said Guinther. "We know that can't happen."

Secretary Spellings says that in order to avoid being left behind, the legislation will need some improvements. Missouri will experience a 42 percent cut in federal funding for No Child Left Behind programs in 2009.

Reported by: Mallory Perryman
Edited by: Ted Arthur
Edited by: Cassandra Novy