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Published
Monday, April 26, 2004
United States Secretary of Education Rod Paige knows first-hand about the cruelty of segregation, and he has a lot to say about it. “I wonder if people who haven’t lived through it can imagine segregation,” he remarked to the largely white crowd Thursday evening at Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government, inaugurating the conference “50 Years After Brown v. Board of Education.” Secretary Paige’s speech underscored the significance of the landmark court case that barred school segregation in the US, forever changing the legal and cultural landscape of American education. “I am not a lawyer or historian, but the best law is understandable and evident to everyone -- not just those with legal training. As someone who lived through segregation, I know that Brown made our country more equitable, more just and more decent.” Nonetheless, Secretary Paige also acknowledged the slow pace of change since the 1954 ruling, and quickly transitioned his discussion of school desegregation to the Bush Administration’s controversial “No Child Left Behind” Act (NCLB). Cognizant of recent Harvard Civil Rights Project research showing de facto school segregation on the rise and recent studies that suggested as few as 3% of minority children are performing at grade level in mathematics, he pushed NCLB’s standard-setting as the roadmap for future progress. He also provided a rebuttal to accusations of under-funding, citing the $57 billion federal education budget for 2005, and Harvard Professor Paul Peterson’s research findings that NCLB is adequately funded. Secretary Paige’s support of NCLB as an anti-segregation measure and achievement gap antidote was heartfelt. His stance towards NCLB’s critics, however, appeared couched in rhetoric similar to that of Bush’s war on terrorism. He remarked that “some people will stop at nothing to undermine this (NCLB) law, looking for any excuse, any flaw… They hope to destroy our will, making further progress as difficult as possible,” likely referring to what he has previously derided as the “obstructionist scare tactics” of National Education Association lobbyists trying to oust the NCLB paradigm. He recently came under fire from educators across the nation for flippantly referring to the NEA as a “terrorist organization” in a conversation with governors, a remark that he has since apologized for, albeit to little avail. Thursday evening at KSG, he added that “those who fought against Brown were on the wrong side of history, just as those who fight NCLB will one day also be labeled,” establishing an ambiguous and contentious parallel that elicited several audible moans of disapproval from the audience. An imposing and impressive a figure, Secretary Paige emitted an air of dignity, determination, and a proud sense of history in delivering his keynote address. Lauding Harvard’s track-record in race-diverse admissions and hiring, he highlighted the ups and downs of our nation’s social policy with trenchant levity. Ultimately, his powerful discussion of proud legacies turned to staunch convictions for the merits of a widely debated education policy – one that history has clearly not yet judged effective -- and one that will likely continue to divide the nation in the foreseeable future. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ To watch the video of Secretary Paige’s speech, visit: To read the text of The Appian’s exclusive interview with
Secretary Paige, click on: For more information on the Brown conference, visit: ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Michael Lisman, a part-time Ed.M candidate in IEP, works at
LASPAU: Academic & Professional Programs for the Americas. |
![NO QUESTION LEFT BEHIND: U.S. Secretary of Education Rod Paige responds to audience members during his address at the Kennedy School of Government on April 22 [Appian/Maes].](../../images/paigefront0404.jpg)