No Child Left Behind Act

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This and that Medicare bill are easily the worst two accomplishments of Bush's presidency.

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Emsworth is correct.

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Hahahah . . . ok son, if placing guidelines as to what qualifications our nations teachers should have, what reading/comprehension levels our students should have, etc destorys state "independence," then by all means, destroy it.  However, national guidelines do no such thing, since states have the freedom to exceed those guidelines as much as they want.  That, my friend, is independence.  What you are promoting is allowing state self-defeatism and promotion of student underachievement.

Legislating minimal federal standards that the states must follow diminishes their independence. Unless, of course, you have a new meaning of the word 'independence' you'd like to share with us.

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Hey, we're making headway.  Thank you for pointing out that guidelines do not destroy anything.

If the government requires you to pray three times a day, that destroys your religious independence. Doesn't matter if you can pray four times a day.

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Not under the actual Constitution, which you've already admitted. You simply want to ignore it.

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States do not have to follow these standards.  They can choose to not folow them and not receive NCLB money. 

Exactly.

It is unconstitutional coercion, used to invade the reserved powers of the states.

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Federal education spending is a small percentage of the total, but even in cases of "unfunded mandates," where the schools actually lose money by adopting the standards, there's political pressure to accept, even though the attitude defies plain common sense.

If this sort of thing wasn't effective, there wouldn't be a uniform drinking age of 21.

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Hey, we're making headway.  Thank you for pointing out that guidelines do not destroy anything.

If the government requires you to pray three times a day, that destroys your religious independence. Doesn't matter if you can pray four times a day.

Just like under NCLB, the states are not required to meet the goals.  If the state chooses not to improve its educational standards, the government assumes that the state can provide for their own education, and will decrease the funding level.  Sounds like something you would be for.

Okay, you agree with me that they're the same. So you don't think my example destroys your religious independence either.

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It's not about a strict interpretation. You are simply ignoring the Tenth Amendment.

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They're not dependent, Emsworth. Federal education spending is very minor. However, states always seem to take what they can get, even if it results in a net loss.

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The point is the coercion. Let's say the government cuts you off welfare unless you pray three times a day.

The document as a whole does not authorize this.