"No Child Left Behind" is a damned joke!!

There are so many parts of this I could comment on but...there's one main point I want to go over. My mom knows someone who just got a teaching job in PA. NCLB now states that all teachers in PA must be "highly qualified" And to be a "highly qualified" political science teacher, she needs to have 6 math credits on her college transcript. She has 3. So now she has to take a math class before the end of the year so she can be a "highly qualified" PS teacher. What the fuck is the point behind that.

And also...every teacher around here I've talked to thinks it's a joke. They say it's making it much harder for the slower students, and in a way, it's making them more likely to be left behind! There isn't a teacher I've talked to who thinks it makes any sense......especially since it's completely underfunded.....there's nothing worse than Federally mandated programs with no funding to back them up. An overly simple testing scheme to decide on the "good" schools combined with a lot of underfunding have shown what a bad idea this plan was. Exams are not the way, and NCLB is dumb. Rewrite a stronger, better curriculum. Pay teachers well enough to attract intelligent and educated people. If the curriculum is not met, the child stays behind as long as it takes to learn and adequate amount of information.

So I hoped we can discuss the pros/cons behind this program. I'm trying to look at this from a centrist point of view but I'm having a hard time doing so.

~ George

 

um...I'm really trying hard not to sound stupid but what is No CHild Left Behind? I think i have an idea..

 

yeah...i think ive got a basic idea...but do go into further detail friend.

 

http://www.ed.gov/nclb/landing.jhtml?src=pb

I very seriously believe that the goal of Bush's program is to destroy the public school system.

You're right - it is riddled with contradictions and impossibilities. For example...a school must show continuous improvement in test scores every year, or else the state has to come in and take over. Think about that for a second. It's impossible for test scores to improve every year. And it gives teachers incentive to only improve a tiny bit, lest they raise the bar too high for the next year.

But why, you might ask, would Bush want to destroy the public school system? Because he's an idiot? Well...he is, but that's not his reason. The reason is that if he can erode the public's faith in the educational system, then he can gain support for things like school vouchers and create a national move towards privitization of schools - especially towards parochial schools. That's right, kids. That ten commandments crap is just the start. All our kids are going to be saying the "our father" before it's all said and done.
(God help us)

 

its the stupidest thing since the patriot act

 

When I was in high school one of my good friends he was in a "special Ed" class for academics. He had a smaller form of Dyslexia. He was told by his teacher that he would never go to an advanced English or Math class because kids with learning disabilities will most likely not go to college. WHAT! Talk about giving up on a kid.

Sad!! Sad indeed.

D

 

We don't have that over here (UK) but apparently the government are doing something similar. Tweaking the grade boundaries so it's easier to get higher passes or something, and that the exams are easier anyway.

Unless that's all just happened since I left school (two years ago) then it's a load of crap.

 

God that is harsh.

My brother Richard has learning difficulties (vaguly autistic) so he probably won't go to college etc.
It's one thing for us to accept it, but no one would ever tell him to his face.

Everyone has their own reasons for being on the earth. Rich is one of the sweetest people I know, and he works so damn hard (twice as hard as me, for half the result. Life's a bitch).
Just because he's not acedemically minded that doesn't mean he is less 'worthy' of education. He shall just be successful and productive on his own terms.
Next year he's going to be doing an apprentiship of sorts at an old peoples home. He's really caring so that could well be his calling.

See that's why it pisses me off when people are written of for being 'special needs' because I know how wonderful those people are.

 

Bush has some "special needs" that need attending to.

 

Teachers almost universally despise this thing. Their #1 complaint is that they end up spending so much time teaching kids how to pass all these tests, that they don't have any time left to do any "real" teaching.

Meanwhile, Bushie can't read or write because he skated through on his name and his $$$. Ignorant fuck.

 

I couldn't agree with you more, Blackie.

Hehe, it sounds like I'm being racist or something.

 

lol... I know. I was like... is he talking about clapton's guitar or is he a racist or what.

 

Ahh i hate this act...we use to have what it was call the tass test...wich was not easy but less difficult than what they change it to now..wich is the taks...ahh man u have to pass it in 11 or 12 to be able to graduate...and in the tass if u pass it in the 9th grade u didnt have to take it no more and u were able to graduate...and they dont even give us food during our testings no more...

 

wow that was interesting

 

""No Child Left Behind" is a damned joke!"

no shit. 100% of anything is impossible, basically, if the law doesn't expire, every school in the country will be on the list, then they'll get rid of it. dumbasses.

 

Man I havent heard about that here. Im sure it'll be on the news soon enough. How do you live with that guy???? Mind you...weve had a school down south that just told the kids the answers so that they would get a 100% pass rate record. Pretty stupid in such a little country.

 

whoa man ur way outta the loop. this shit was passed like a year or two ago. pay attention!