No Child Left Behind…Effective Or Not?
Posted by: From Arkansas in Are You Kidding Me?, It's A Rant on Sep 09 2007
Welcome back!
This question actually is so much a hot issue for me that I almost can’t write about it here. Almost, I said. What we have here is a failure to communicate. I remember that line being in a TV show somewhere. But that is so true. Do you believe that the No Child Left Behind Act works? It is questionable. And for those of you who have children in the education system, you actually know the answer, don’t you.
The Bush administration says that it will not take or accept any changes in the law. Others are interested in some changes. Still others want massive changes or completely revise it. I happen to think that the initial idea of it sounded pretty good. It meant that those children who, for whatever reason, were unable to keep up with their friends, could be helped to keep up with their classmates. That was the idea.
While I do believe there are parts to this that are valid points and good, what actually happens is that school systems now have classes on how to take the Benchmark tests, which take the place of normal classes, so that their state will show as having improved or continued to be superior, as the case may be. None of that is truly valid since the schools actually drop the regular classes in order to teach how to take a test. Are you kidding me????
These tests are a lie simply to make it look good for the federal government. And most of the states are doing this!! For instance, we have a child in middle school here. Her social studies class is taught how to take the math part of the test. Social studies is hardly taught at all. In case you have not been watching how it is with the schools, perhaps you should start to wake up and see this.
What I see as the Dumbing Down of America here is that the kids are no longer actually taught the regular courses. I have a niece in high school where they like to show movies in class. The movies are not relevant to the class. It’s a time taker. There is little to no homework. The niece in middle school has occasional homework. Her teachers still care about teaching, sort of.
So the end is, no, I do not think that this form of No Child Left Behind is working. It needs some serious revisions that demand that schools take honest testing instead of what I consider to be cheating the system. If you want your child to be taught to cheat, this is certainly the way to do it. NO, it is NOT effective as it stands.
If you enjoyed this post, make sure you subscribe to my RSS feed!
Trackback url for this post
2 Comments
Sorry, the comment form is closed at this time.
After speaking with the teachers at meetings they are in a pickle. Teach for the test or loose funding.
HOWEVER I have some serious questions…
WHY DOES SHE NEED a computer class where they play games when they don’t even know how to type?
Why has she STILL not been taught to take notes or outline properly as of the 6th grade?
Why is EVERY SINGLE FACT they need to know for the test placed on a review sheet rather than relying on them to study the materials AND take notes in class?
Why do they have a recycling club? I can understand yearbook, school paper. But it seems a bit moronic to take a couple periods a week to go from classroom to classroom gathering papers?
I’m not liking this AT ALL
SO what to do?
Private School - None nearby I like OR too expensive
Homeschool - Not enough hours in the day (I work 12 hour days)
Supplmental Help - Is where I’m at. I’m teaching her how to take notes and the things I feel are important. IN addition to her getting good grades
My daughter needs to know things more than the test. Memorization of terms and testing prep is NOT GOING TO CUT IT… ESPECIALLY with math and science. The concepts and ideas and ability to THINK AND REASON are lost in todays schools because it’s all amount the MONEY baby!
We gradually left their most PRECIOUS resource to corrupt politicians and self absorbed ignorant administrators. NOW we’re in a terrible pickle… So it’s up to us to FIX the problem. PTA, School Board, homework helping ANYTHING. BE INVOLVED
Yes this is a rather incoherent rant… but I get SO UPSET!
I do not blame you in the least. In fact, I agree totally with all you have said. There is no reason for all of this to be happening but it is because politicians think that they can do what others have not, given the kids that are left behind a shot at a future. For the most part, this is not really happening.
What is happening is that the schools have started to dumb down the kids. Now we have movies instead of class work. I have a niece in high school who rarely has homework. I remember having homework every night at that age. She watches movies and learns to take the tests for the government.
The school board is totally ineffective because they go along with the testing idea because of the funding.
In our area, there is NO PTA. We have no one to go to but the teacher who has hands tied.
If we go to the politicians, we get someone nicely patting us verbally and we get nothing.
I am with you. I cannot home school because I do not qualify to do so. There are no private schools in our rural area. There are no other choices except Magnet schools which are few and far between where we live.
If we are to give the child a boost up, we need to take almost all the kid’s after school time…which is already taken up by things that she needs as well.
The parents MUST do the teaching. There must be input when a kid cannot even tell you where the states are when they are in the 7th and 8th grades. I learned that in the 5th grade, I think.
What can we do? I need answers myself. What can we do? Who else has found answers here?
Thank you for commenting. I may be using part of your comments or all in a post I will be doing soon. This is a hot issue that cannot be ignored! EVER!