More Resources Secretary's Remarks

PALO ALTO, Calif. -- In impassioned remarks to the Commonwealth Club of California, U.S. Secretary of Education Rod Paige today blasted what he terms the "soft bigotry of low expectations" and insisted that educators must "let go of the myths and perceptions about who can learn and who can't," so that all children can reach high academic standards.

Paige decried that "some of the biggest skeptics are those whose job it is to believe in children," noting that, "teachers who believe that certain social groups are slower to learn -- and react by lowering the bar for performance -- rob those children of opportunities to grow intellectually and achieve their dreams."

The secretary spoke from the heart when he added that, "any system and any person that gives up on any child because of what he looks like or who his parents are is no less discriminatory than a jeering mob blocking the schoolhouse door. It is every inch the bigotry that once exiled some people to the back of the bus."

Paige's powerful remarks addressed one critical goal of the No Child Left Behind (NCLB) Act of 2001 -- to correct the previous and pervasive "separate and unequal" education systems that "taught only some students well while the rest -- mostly poor and mostly minority -- floundered or flunked out." Under NCLB, the landmark education reform law that has for the first time injected accountability into state and local education systems, states must develop and implement a single accountability system, including academic standards, assessments and proficiency goals, for all students in a state. Most significantly, all students must make steady progress toward full proficiency by 2013-14. A central principle of NCLB is that holding all children to the same high standards, including high expectations and challenging curricula delivered by highly qualified teachers, will enable all children to excel.

Unlike those who make excuses and insist that "all children cannot learn," advocates of the disadvantaged have applauded and supported the central tenets of NCLB, as well as President Bush's insistence that the progress of each subgroup of students, including low-income, ethnic and racial groups, and children with disabilities and limited English proficiency, be measured and reported for all to see. In that way, educators, schools and parents will have powerful information to improve and target instruction and extra help based on each child's needs.

Paige also added that research shows that teachers tend to under-estimate the intelligence of low-income children, and that their subsequent low expectations have "incredible power" to undermine potential. He cited a Stanford University study that found that high-achieving African-American students perform worse on tests when they are reminded in subtle ways about derogatory stereotypes.

There are "thousands of schools and teachers that are producing incredible results," Paige observed, naming several, and noted that, "it not only can be done, it is being done every day."

###

Top

Back to March 2003