A couple of recent studies show the moral, intellectual and educational bankruptcy of the so-called No Child Left Behind Act. The groundswell necessary to scrap the thing has not caught up to the urgency of doing so, alas.
Tom Chapin, the youngest of the musical Chapin Brothers who once included Harry Chapin, worked in advanced childhood education before we knew what it was. As host of ABC Television’s “Make A Wish,” Chapin significantly contributed to one of the finest education programs ever broadcast. It’s a sin that it’s not on DVD for kids now. “Make A Wish” demonstrated what television could do, in that era before the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) turned its back on the public interest requirements of the Communications Act of 1934, and before commercial television pulled the plug on dreams that commercial television might be a great engine of education and cultural enrichment.
Chapin is back, with a modest poke at the NCLB balloon, and a more powerful vote for arts education in public schools: “It’s Not on the Test”:
I ponder the research I’ve seen over the years, both inside the Department of Education and out, and the statistical and anecdotal stories that show art training and education (not the same thing) improve academic performance, and I wonder what squirrels have eaten the brains of “reformers” who kill arts programs for the stated purposes of “improving test performance.” Einstein played the violin. Feynman drummed. Churchill painted, as did Eisenhower. Edison and his team had a band, and jammed when they were stuck on particular problems, or just for fun. When will education decision makers see the light?
May this little spark ignite a prairie fire of protest.
Where are you protesting this week?
Posted by Ed Darrell 
Millard Fillmore's Bathtub 