David Stratman, former Washington director of the national PTA, wrote in the Boston Globe that "[c]reating 'tough, measurable' standards for student performance in the face of enormous inequalities in school programs across the state legitimizes inequalities and blames the students who have been victimized by them." That and other reforms, wrote Stratman, are part of an "attack on public education" intended to "crush the hopes and self-confidence of young people" so that if "they have less fulfilling jobs and less rewarding lives" they will "blame themselves instead of the system."

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