The headline reads, ”Bush Marks School Laws 2nd Anniversary: White House uses visit to announce budget increases.” In the photograph just below the headline, George Bush is sitting on a wooden bench with three black children. On the blackboard behind them someone has printed the words “No Child Left Behind” with white chalk in large block letters. Many children have printed their own names in colorful chalk hues beside and beneath the large block letters. The President wears a dark blue suit and red tie for this photo opportunity and the three children are dressed in white tops and dark pants, apparently a school uniform. The caption beneath the photograph reads, ”President Bush listens to Khadijah McCain at Laciede Elementary School in St. Louis, as schoolmates Damien Goolsby and Darlet Horton watch.” The lead paragraph of the piece says that the President visited St. Louis to celebrate the anniversary of one of his ”signature domestic achievements” and to “trumpet two schools he believes have begun to live up to the promise of the No Child Left Behind Act” . . . .
For more information about Professor Lawrence’s Donahue Lecture (which served as the basis for this article) please click here.