The Choice Channel

“Academic standards are all the rage. Nearly everyone thinks they are the key to improving the dismal state of American education. The nation’s governors recently affirmed their intention to hold the children of their states to high standards. President Clinton supported the governors’ position when he told them, ‘If you want the standards movement to work, first you have to do the hard work of defining what it is you expect children to learn.’ That is the essence of the standards movement. Some level of government will dictate to children (and their parents) what’s expected of them. There may be debate over which level of government should do the dictating but not over whether some government should be doing it.” (06/96)