First... you have to consider the source. If you are watching ABC, CBS, NBC, CNN, MSNBC or PBS - then you can pretty much count on getting a very LIBERAL point of view. The FAR LEFT heads this media and it has been proven, and admitted that they slant their news. Bottom line is that they are anti President Bush and will take every opportunity to throw a negative spin on it. Now, if you heard it from FOX News - then you can pretty much count on it being accurate and honest. The Liberals would love to say FOX slants Conservative, but in actualality, they slant towards the middle - which is right of FAR LEFT. :-)

Where's the ART?

"Where's the ART? " It's the big pic above =P

I agree with JRParz. If you only get info from ABC,CBS,NBC,CNN, then you're getting part of the story, the part that supports only the liberal view. If you watch Fox News Channel (or www.foxnews.com) you will see stories that don't run ANYWHERE else. Example, a few weeks ago Sen. Dodd from CT stood in the Senate and gave a lengthy praise about how wonderful Sen Byrd (D-WV) was, including his past. The occasion was Byrd's 13000th vote. No network except Fox carried that story because Byrd's past includes active membership in the KKK. Dodd was merely smootching up to an old man. But where was the same outrage that occurred when Trent Lott (R-MS) praised Strom Thrumond (R-SC) at a 100th b-day party. Lott lost his leadership role because the liberal media portrayed him as endorsing segregation, because Thurmond had run on that platform in 1948. Double standard? Did you notice the "R"s and the "D"s? And I won't even start about NPR. My suggestion, get real information BEFORE forming an opinion.

Well, I am not a Bush fan per say...but I have children...and this is one area I agree with...my son has Attention Deficit Disorder (ADD) and too many times our children are not taught but merely pushed along...and children like my son and others are "left behind"...how can anything that is pro education be wrong? My son started Kindergarten this year and I was told that he was a "slow learner"...now near the end of the year they said he is one of the brightest kids in his class....moral to this story...his teachers didn't pigeon whole him or stereo type him...and he is succeeding...all children learn differently and what this enables is for schools to 1) put money where they need it 2) Get parental involvement...which is seriously lacking these days 3) holding schools acountable for what the children learn....all of these things are necessary to ensure that our educational system improves :O) and our children deserve the best :O) Of course this is only my opinion :O) and honestly I am not right wing, left wing, conservative, Democratic, or Republican.... I'm just a parent :O)

Forgetting for a moment about political affiliations, since I am independent (no, not Independent. That would be Perot's party.)... I don't have as much of a problem with Bush wanting to push an education act. I do have a problem with many teachers being told that the only way they can stay in the right is to teach the test. This leaves a broad spectrum of knowledge that is not even being touched. I have studied cultures of societies that beat the snot out of us in education. Their students go many more hours a year than our students, and are tought how to think. Teaching to the test is the same as teaching only the facts. Facts are good for Jeopardy, but not for raising the future of our society. If we want true educational reform, we have to be able to teach students how to think and become innovative thinkers. We need a way to teach the facts while reaching out to teach our students the basics that go along with them. Ann, I do agree with one major thing you've said. GET PARENTAL INVOLVEMENT. This is one of the building blocks to success.

I see the art! I see the art! It's sticking out from under that piece of paper!

I think this note is the "ART".....

Well, I think Bush failed here. He agreed with the Demos, mostly Kennedy, and gave $$$$ like never before and the $$$$ has been wasted by Congress and now the Demos blame Bush!

The act is pretty much a paper tiger. Meaningless, poorly thought out, and pretty much meant to appeal to the surface thinkers and reactionary minds. It doesn't address fundamental issues, but merely applies pressure to produce results. It is underfunded, especially in areas such as class size and tutoring or special needs. Its about a test, and a narrow set of results. This president scored a 540 verbal and 600 math on his SAT test, distressingly average scores, he is a distressingly average mind, and moreover, has a very poor command of the english language (which he calls "speaking american"). Finally, this administration, like his father's before him, has actively worked to fight and diminish the teacher's union on the premise teachers are overpaid and coddled. The act is a fraud, nothing has changed, nothing is truly being addressed in education, and finally, the president and the administration has done nothing to raise the social value of intelligence or literacy. Americans can't find most countries of the world on a map, when i asked my own sister what important document was signed in this building as we drove past Independence Hall (in Philadelphia), she had no idea. She was, at the time, a senior in high school, studying american history. I don't see americans at large as stupid, but i tend to think the better part of americans are guilty of being willfully ignorant. Just watch the show "street smarts" to get a sense of how lgnorant the average american can be. Questions like "what monarch was the victorian era named after?" or "what is prince charles' title?" My own favorite question, which goes to teaching people how to think, is "where did our lady of lourdes appear?" My own children damned well can name every continent, every major river, every major mountain range, speak at least one word in five languages, (working on more) can show you where paris is, tokyo, egypt, and much more. They are ten and six years old. Their teachers had very little to do with how they value knowledge, intelligence, literacy and education. An independent, questioning mind will never ever need to rely on a law or president to supply knowledge. Teach a child to be hungry for knowledge, teach them how to seek out knowledge. That child won't be left behind. I promise.

Thank you all for responding to this and I'm glad I got to hear some different opinions.

Four years and what have they accomplished controlling the Presidency, the Senate, and Congress? Not much. What else needs to be said?

All news media is biased. It's all spin zone to get ratings. How many of them actually read the 600 plus pages to see things like a provision requiring public secondary schools to provide military recruiters access to information on every student or face a cutoff of all federal aid? What does that have to do with "no child left behind"? The Houston drop-out scandal was pretty humorous as to what great things he did with education there.