Ro v. Lantos: The Day After
The debate last night between the Democratic candidates for the 12th Congressional district was an extraordinary event. Packed in a tiny City Council room, policed by the most obsessive hall police you've seen since first grade, it was a great exchange between these candidates. I've got to run to a board meeting, and will be posting much more later, but here is a link to audio, and here's a link to video.
And here's a link to one of my favorite exchanges. Ro criticizes Congressman Lantos for supporting the "No Child (except public school childred) Left Behind Act." Just "talking to teachers," he says, would have told you that Act wouldn't work. In classic DC style, Lantos' response: Ted Kennedy supported it, so it is "outrageous" for a "newcomer" to criticize what people who have "devoted their whole life to education" say. Ro is cut off in his reply: "I'm assuming that teachers who have devoted their whole life to education know more..."
Very nice. And there's more to come.
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Comments (4)
That's a great exchange you pulled out - thanks for posting the video for us out-of-towners!
Sounds like Democracy might actually be alive and well in parts of California. Unfortunately, I haven't seen any newspaper coverage of the race for US Congress in Illinois' 8th district. I have been forced to make my decision solely on the candidates websites. Just in case there any residents of our 8th district reading, I am going to vote for William Scheurer. His site is congressforpeace.org
Sorry, the site I mentioned above should be congressforpeace.com
I'm a public school teacher. While I appreciate Ro's comments on No Child Left Behind (NCLB), both candidates have got it wrong. I don't care what teachers and superintendents say, I don't care what Ted Kennedy says, I care what the kids and their parents say. I worked in a 90% poverty school last year, and currently teach a sheltered English Language Learner classroom. Having worked with the two minorities most overlooked by our current system, I can tell you that a strong accountability system is not just nice to have, we must have it. For the first time, NCLB has exposed at a school by school level how disparate the educational outcomes are between poor and middle-class kids.
Here's what we should be doing as Democrats. Stop fighting accountability, stop fighting parental choice, they are overwhelmingly supported by our poor kids and their parents. Instead, work to couple these with a significant increase in teacher and principal pay. NCLB is the federal government's first step in becoming serious about American education. What our legislators should be asking for is a federal education budget that puts their money where there mouth is. Not just funding the testing aspects of NCLB, but becoming an equal partner with states and local communities in the funding of schools 33/33/33. Just my $.02 :)