“If you want to try to get poor kids to high proficiency, you take the JFK man-on-the-moon-in-a-decade approach and fund the program adequately.”
—Gerald Bracey, an education professor at George Mason University, arguing that the Bush administration needs to provide more money to help schools comply with the No Child Left Behind Act.
“The funding issue is a bogus argument. It has no basis in fact, and I’m growing quite impatient with it.”
—Education Secretary Rod Paige, expressing frustration with charges that the government has failed to provide enough assistance to help states comply with NCLB.
“Violence is just a way of grabbing the child’s attention. What’s important is that the more violent the game, the more strategic modes of thinking the child has to develop to win modes of thinking that fit in better with today’s high-tech global world than the learning they are taught in school.”
—University of Wisconsin-Madison education Professor James Paul Gee, defending the educational value of video games.
“I couldn’t believe how vapid and vacant and empty all the stories were. There were, like, no lessons, just all about princesses and, like, the beautiful prince arrives, and he takes her for his wife, and nothing happens....There’s, like, no books about anything.”
—Pop star Madonna, on looking for stories to read to her young son. She recently penned five children’s books of her own; the second in the series, Mr. Peabody’s Apples, focuses on the importance of teachers and will be published in November.
