Obama to Pre-Schoolers: This Won't Hurt a Bit

In his State of the Union message earlier this week, Barack Obama announced his intention to focus on "improving" early childhood ("pre-K") education -- in much the way he and his education secretary, Arne Duncan, have "improved" K-12 education. Here's a poem by the writer Mark Naison, circulating on education activist lists, that gives a pretty good preview of what Obama has in mind:


On the President's New "Pre-School Initiative”
By Mark Naison

Test them in the cradle
Test them in the crib
Test them in the infant seat
And when they wear a bib
Test them eating baby food
And when they ride a bike
Test them when they fall asleep
Or picking up a mike
If you don't test your infants
They'll never get a job
Sorting shirts in Wal-Mart
They'll probably steal and rob
The entire US economy
Depends on taking tests
We'll never compete globally
And fall behind the rest

Illustration:
http://www.susanohanian.org/show_nclb_cartoons.php?id=852