Secretary of Education Rod Paige this month condemned leaders of the NAACP for opposing the federal No Child Left Behind Act and questioned the organization鈥檚 commitment to improving the education of African-American children.
Mr. Paige, who is the first black U.S. education secretary, made his comments in an opinion column published in TheWall Street Journal on July 15. That week, the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People held its annual convention in Philadelphia.
President Bush declined an invitation to speak to the group, saying that it has shown a lack of respect for him. The NAACP then blasted the president for his refusal, setting off a firestorm of fault-finding.
Mr. Paige, who denounced the NAACP鈥檚 criticism of the president in his column, wrote that he was puzzled by the group鈥檚 opposition to the No Child Left Behind Act, which Mr. Bush signed into law in 2002.
鈥淗ow a civil rights organization could characterize NCLB as 鈥榙isproportionately hurting鈥� African-American children is mindboggling, since it is specifically designed to close the achievement gap between disadvantaged children and their peers,鈥� wrote Mr. Paige, who noted that he himself is a lifelong member of the group.
鈥淵et, the NAACP would prefer to attack it merely because of its origins in the Bush administration. How sad for black children everywhere,鈥� Mr. Paige wrote of the law.
Leaders React
Julian Bond, the chairman of the NAACP鈥檚 board, whom Mr. Paige chastised as spreading 鈥渉ateful and untruthful rhetoric鈥� about Republicans and President Bush, said in an interview last week that he was taken aback by the secretary鈥檚 鈥渁ngry language.鈥�
鈥淵ou can鈥檛 expect anything different from a man who called the National Education Association terrorists,鈥� Mr. Bond said, referring to a comment Mr. Paige made earlier this year. (鈥淔uror Lingers Over Paige鈥檚 Union Remark,鈥� March 3, 2004.)
The NAACP does not oppose the No Child Left Behind law, but Mr. Bond said the organization does fault the Bush administration for not funding the legislation at the full authorized level. He said the NAACP also is concerned that the law has 鈥渇ostered a kind of drill-and-kill curriculum鈥� that has led to teaching to the test, rather than instructing students to think critically.
Still, Mr. Bond said, the law has generated much-needed discussions about how to address the problems facing public schools.
John H. Jackson, the national director of education for the NAACP, said that while President Bush is trying to 鈥済o it alone鈥� by imposing a federal law on states, the organization is working with states to improve black students鈥� learning.
Although it was unclear who within the NAACP had said that the law would disproportionately hurt African-American students, Mr. Jackson said that without more resources, the results could prove devastating for black children.
