[John Cole]

M,

Get off these Townhall "writers." Note for example that Sowell mentions "fads" in both of your links, yet he never explains what those "fads" are. In fact, many schools across the country have turned to basic skills once again in an effort to meet the requirements of the No Child Left Behind program. You'd be interested in Malcom Gladwell's brief article in a recent New Yorker on how competency is judged. Gladwell shows that three different assessment methods give three very different competency rates. Either 77%, 20%, or 10% of students show competency in reading depending upon which method is selected. He also points out, and this should surprise no one here, that the schools that show the biggest gains are almost always the smallest schools in a state because luck plays a huge factor in test scores.

Beyond this, though, let me give you one example of how poor schools fail to measure up to wealthy schools. In the very early grades, children use color coded books to teach them certain concepts. In one school system, the color books are copied--in black and white.