When a president of the United States begins incorporating religious rhetoric into his speeches, alarm bells must sound. When that same president allocates taxpayer monies to religious groups, then citizens should be experiencing widespread panic. Bush's No Child Left Behind Act is no less frightening than the faith-based initiative. Hiding behind good intentions, the No Child Left Behind Act fails to take into account a major factor: reality. Jim Donlevy notes, "It simply is not reasonable to continue to identify thousands of failing schools throughout the United States and then to see through to completion the sanctions written into the Act." The Act includes provisions for annual testing for schools, with progress requirements in core subjects such as English, math and science. "The idea is to be sure that all students are learning at higher standards," (Donlevy). However, the Act demands too much too soon. Forcing some schools to shut down due to substandard testing performance, the Act essentially discriminates against poor and underprivileged communities and the students that reside within them. No Child Left Behind focuses too much on test scores and too little on the problems that cause low test scores such as insufficient funding for inner-city and other poor schools.

I will refute the Presidency of George W. Bush based on his unsatisfactory performance regarding the war in Iraq, the faith-based initiative, and the No Child Left Behind Act. Bush's foreign policy is overly ambitious, violent, and disruptive to world peace. The faith-based initiative unravels years of social progress by reintroducing religion into the domain of politics. Because the two spheres of politics and religion should remain separate in any democracy, President Bush's administration represents a step in the wrong direction. Finally, the No Child Left Behind Act ends up leaving behind precisely those children it claims to help: the poor and underprivileged.

A refutation of George W. Bush's presidency is rooted in the ideology of liberalism, as outlined by Thomas E. Patterson in his book We the People. Liberalism implies tolerance above all else. A liberal ideology cannot stomach the war in Iraq because that war was a preemptive strike against a sovereign nation. A liberal ideology cannot fathom...

A liberal ideology likewise cannot tolerate legislation like the No Child Left Behind Act because of its discrimination against underprivileged communities.
President Bush could do a far better job in the Oval Office by implementing some basic changes to his administration's ideology. First, Bush needs to act more cooperatively with the international community regarding matters of foreign policy. Rather than doing whatever he wants, the president should listen to what other foreign leaders have to say. Second, Bush needs to ditch the faith-based initiative, which has no place in American politics. Third, rather than force schools to attain unreasonable standards of performance, Bush should reconsider the No Child Left Behind Act, replacing it with a more reasonable solution that allocates more funds to underprivileged communities. With some simple steps like these, the United States can avoid potential problems in the future.

Works Cited

Anders, Christopher E. 2001. They must remain separate. The World & I. Washington: Jul 2001.Vol.16, Iss. 7; pg. 55 http://proquest.umi.com/pqdweb?did=74767508&sid=1&Fmt=3&clientId=12334&RQT=309&VName=PQD.

Dobbins, James. 2005. Iraq: Winning the Unwinnable War. Foreign Affairs. New York: Jan/Feb 2005.Vol.84, Iss. 1; pg. 16 http://proquest.umi.com/pqdweb?index=7&did=805099671&SrchMode=1&sid=1&Fmt=3&VInst=PROD&VType=PQD&RQT=309&VName=PQD&TS=1114122900&clientId=12334.

Donlevy, Jim. 2003. Teachers, Technology and Training: No Child Left Behind: Failing Schools and Future Directions. International Journal of Instructional Media. New York: 2003.Vol.30, Iss. 4; pg. 335, 4 pages http://proquest.umi.com/pqdweb?did=549016431&sid=2&Fmt=3&clientId=12334&RQT=309&VName=PQD.

Patterson, Thomas E. We the People. 5th edition. McGraw-Hill.

Twombly, Eric C. 2002. Religious vs. secular human service organizations: Implications for public policy. Social Science Quarterly. Austin: Dec 2002.Vol.83, Iss. 4; pg. 947, 15 pages http://proquest.umi.com/pqdweb?did=249880221&sid=1&Fmt=4&clientId=12334&RQT=309&VName=PQD