Jonathan Kozol speaking at the University of Chicago while on his hunger strike earlier this year.

There are two items I ran across on the internet this morning that are connected and worth noting.

One is an article from EdWeek on how the NEA is to blame for the failure to reauthorize NCLB.

The other is a post on Chicago’s PURE blog site about Jonathan Kozol and the media attention he received by his hunger strike. It resulted in a meeting with NCLB sponsor Ted Kennedy. The report by PURE claims the meeting has caused Kennedy to reassess some of his views on the bill.

Well, well.

Considering how some anti-NCLB voices went after the NEA this year for selling out their members, the EdWeek piece is interesting. Of course, some of these folks wouldn’t be satisfied unless the were no federal education law at all. But the fact remains that the odds makers now question whether we will ever have a reauthorization of the existing law and the NEA leadership ought to get a share of the credit for that.

To those like Rotherham who wrote all those mocking, nasty articles and posts about the courageous and principled Kozol: Who’s laughing now?