Sherry Chandler

What about the children? Again.

Look at these last paragraphs of the NYTimes article covering Mr. Bush’s execrable veto of the second SCHIPS bill:

Each side sees the clash making for good politics. The White House, convinced that Republicans lost Congressional seats last year because the public was fed up with government spending, calculates that Mr. Bush will please fiscal conservatives by drawing the line against a big expansion of the program.

Democrats calculate that Mr. Bush will look heartless by vetoing health care for children and that Republicans will suffer at the polls.

So, now, is this really what this battle is all about? Everybody concerned cynically making political points on a sentimental issue?

Is there nobody left in our government who does the right thing because it’s the right thing to do?

Or is it the way the news spins everything, teaching us to look at all our politics as cynical maneuvering?

I don’t know the answer to these questions. I just know I’m very tired of children being used as pawns.

The other day my greatniece, who is studying early childhood education, shared with me a paper she’d written about the No Child Left Behind act. She listed a number of reasons why this act has failed our children. A child cannot perform well in school:

• when s/he is born without adequate prenatal care,
• when s/he doesn’t have sufficient health care as a toddler,
• when her/his parents don’t know how to stimulate him/her or cannot pay for an expensive preschool

These deficiencies need to be corrected, said my greatniece. All this testing is just a gimmick. I couldn’t agree more.

I place my hope in young people like her, who want to do the right thing because it’s the right thing to do, who are really concerned about the children, not about using children to gain power or wealth.

Possibly related posts:

SOS

Not About the Children

Frye on Children

The women and children

Patience

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