We've written a couple of times about how the phrase "soft bigotry of low expectations" raises a crritical issue and ends the discussion of other critical issues.  It's brilliant really--anyone who says race or poverty matters in education is a bigot.  Shuts down the dialogue real quick.  Maybe it's the same speechwriter who coined the phrase "axis of evil," another winner (sorta).

I tried to track down the first time George W. Bush uttered the expression and found this, his address at the Republican National Convention in August 2000 while still Governor of Texas:

On education, too many American children are segregated into schools without standards, shuffled from grade to grade because of their age, regardless of their knowledge. This is discrimination, pure and simple, the soft bigotry of low expectations. And our nation...

And our nation should treat it like other forms of discrimination: We should end it.

One size does not fit all when it comes to educating our children, so local people should control local schools.

And those who spend your tax dollars must be held accountable. When a school district receives federal funds to teach poor children, we expect them to learn. And if they don't, parents should get the money to make a different choice.

Reading these remarks six years later, the message is clear: make Title I of NCLB work or we will push for vouchers. And, according to this recent piece in USA Today, we probably will be fighting vouchers in the next reauthorization because, by President Bush's logic, too many schools are not making AYP, thereby "proving" that Title I does not work.

What is not made explicit in Bush's remarks is who, specifically, is to blame, other than "school districts."  Former Secretary of Education Rod Paige's points the finger of blame in this 2003 speech.  It's the "teachers who believe that certain social groups are slower to learn--and react by lowering the bar for performance--rob those children of opportunities to grow intellectually and achieve their dreams."

Ah ha! So, it's the teachers' fault because they have low expectations for students.  And people wonder why teachers are not fond of NCLB?  Nothing like being told--after dedicating your life to teaching children--that you are a racist or an elitist.