I had a math teacher in high school who would get into trouble every year for his unorthodox teaching methods. He presented lots of material quickly. He expected us to have read the textbook before we came to class. He didn't hold everyone's hand and make certain that everyone understood every detail before moving on. If you couldn't keep up, he expected you to put in whatever extra time you needed, either on your own, or after school with his help. He refused to let the slowest students dictate the pace for everyone. He also graded on a curve (the horror!). In other words, he challenged us, and he judged us based on our performance.

Every year, some student's parents would complain that there had to be something terribly wrong with this teacher. Their daughter had never flunked a test before in her life. Their daughter had always gotten straight A's. The truth, of course, was that while Sally was ambitious and hard-working, she wasn't terribly bright. But since she had never really been challenged before, nobody had ever noticed.

The administrators would promise the parents they'd do something about it. They'd read this teacher the riot act, and he'd behave himself -- for a while. Eventually, he'd always go back to his old ways. For which I'm eternally grateful, because I learned more in his classes than any others I ever took.

That's the appeal of Leftism-- not only do I get my money for nothing and my chicks for free, but no one ever gets more than me.

Peter, I can excuse you, because you're a Canadian, but I grew up not too far from Nashville, and I already experienced (not personally, but observed from Catholic schools) school choice and the flight from the common school movement.

It was not, I promise you, motivated by any desire to enhance the academic rigor of schools. It was pure racism.

We called 'em seg academies.

I do not claim that pure racism is a big component of the NCLB movement, but it's a part of it.

Orrin argues that the sufferers from the current common school system are black kids in the slums and advocates a secession movement.

We've been there before. In Prince George's County, Virginia.

Funny how that worked out. Instead of an inferior public school education -- and, no question, it was inferior -- they ended up with none at all.

Raoul:

It's interesting that you use a Dire Straits reference when speaking of the Left, since almost no industry is as laissez faire in America as the music industry.

Harry:

Thanks for excusing me. All that fur-trapping and maple sugaring we do up here keeps us pretty isolated. We got TV last year though. Man, that Howdy Doody is a gas.

Urbanely-challenged we may be, but I still can't see what the heck your argument has to do with the issue of parents against standards, academic rigour and honour roles.

Nothing whatever to do with principles or anything cosmic. Just an observation that we tried this before and I, for one, thought the results were disgusting.

"A lot of modern parents have only the vaguest sense of what they want their children to learn, but unlike previous generations, they refuse to defer to professionals and delight in challenging the system in abstract psycho-babble."

Given that "abstract psych-babble" is what the so-called professionals have been peddling for decades that's hardly surprising.