Summit on Education
Having been a teacher and school administrator, and now as an editor and publisher of school books, I am disgusted by our “education President’s” first efforts.
The pre-summit rumors were full of phrases like “parental choice” and “magnet schools,” in which wealthier parents could transport their kids anywhere they liked and poorer parents could watch their children rot in place.
During the summit there was a move by some governors (but not ours) to increase access to Head Start, the only program mentioned with proven worth; but President Bush harshly denied the availability of funds for the 80% of the poor who can’t get into Head Start.
Bush’s education summit has declared a “war on schools” to match his “war on drugs.” In both wars the targets of convenience seem remarkably the same: the children of the poor. President Reagan was obsessed by the Sandinistas. We can read your lips, George, so why not just call your demon by its name? Why not just declare a war on children--or more precisely a war on children of the poor.
ERIC BAGAI
North Hollywood
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