Illustration by Ken Patterson In all four presidential/vice presidential debates, the moderators failed to ask a single question about public education and the candidates’ views on President Bush’s “No Child Left Behind” education reform act, passed in January 2001. The candidates themselves tried to insert points about NCLB in answers to other questions—Bush, for instance, said his education plan was an alternative to raising the minimum wage—but no substantive discussion of public education, and how the presidential candidates differ, occurred. Perhaps this means that the candidates either agree on the need for NCLB—after all, Kerry voted for it—or that Kerry does not have substantially different ideas about public education. Not exactly.
