For richer, for poorer

Dear You,

On a radio call-in program yesterday, a teacher was decrying the No Child Left Behind legislation that she -- and many, many others! -- claim has taken away nearly everything that was good about school. It is a favorite topic of mine, even nine years after I left the classroom. Indeed, when I first heard it called the No Teacher Left Standing act, I felt its truth.

In all the protests, what I rarely hear is the core of the legislation : NCLB is designed to cripple public schools and advance the cause of vouchers for private schools. In essence, it is merely another case of rich vs. poor.

In recent years a variety of the government's policies have widened the gap between those who have much and those without. Bankruptcy regulations favor lawyers and credit companies; tax cuts gave additional millions to millionaires, but virtually nothing to the poor; bail-outs for the banking industry encouraged the issuing of "sub-prime" mortgages at interest rates far exceeding rates offered to wealthy people; tarrif changes cost the working poor their jobs, and those who held on to them are forced to work fewer than 36 hours a week so the companies won't have to pay their health benefits. Dozens of other examples present themselves. Even the fact that the ruinous war against Iraq does not require sacrifice (no draft; no increase in taxation) -- except, of course, for the blood of the children of the poor! -- further diminishes our faith in government.

A democracy is nourished by citizens who honor and trust their leaders. Thoreau observed that while thousands hack at the branches of a problem, few know to dig at the roots. The roots are too often hidden, and our current crop of leaders thrive on the walls of secrecy they have thrown up.