No child left 'behind', My ass.

The BBQ Pit
1

This was the worst piece of shit to be passed by our legislation in years. We’re holding our schools for ransom, and we’re not getting anywhere with it. We’re homogenizing our schoolkids, homogenizing teachers, and we will suffer in the future for it.

Two local schools in my city are about to be claimed as some of the first victims of NCLB. Despite huge strides in improvement in the standardized testing, they have still fallen behind. Both schools are in the crap part of town. Both schools are predominantly Hispanic in demography. One school suffered the loss of its library, new addition and 7 classrooms right before school opened, due to arson.

To expect that all schools are going to always test at a certain, predetermined level is preposterous. To change all of our schools curriculums to one homogenized curriculum is insanity.

That the President thinks that we ought to emphasize math and science to get ahead in the world and stop jobloss is also preposterous. We can’t teach our children fucking math and sciences(or technology even), because our teachers are busy teaching a pre-set curriculum so they can make sure that all of their students pass this fucking exam!

That the President(and Kerry to a certain extent), wear the passing of NCLB like a proud medal on their chests is shameful. They know not what they have done,a nd I have a hunch if ANY question regarding the efficacy of NCLB had been raised in a debate, they would have had some brilliant fucking talking point referring to the “jury being out”, or “not having enough data” yet as it’s a new program.

Our schools have shut down many programs, ancillary classes and other courses out in favor of teaching more NCLB curriculum. When I went to school, I was involved in many biology courses, and Sports training/Sports Medical programs at my school. There’s no way they would have the time, energy or money to still teach those courses while ensuring that every single student could pass these exams.

Here’s a mighty “fucko-off” to the President and all of the legislative fucking sheep who pounded this piece of shit through congress. I’ve never thought about private, religious or voucher schools before. Now I’m thinking that if things don’t change between now and my having children, I will look into one of those 3 avenues.

Sam

2

GaWd. I think I share some of the frustration you display with regards to the direction modern education is being taken. Here in the UK we have had a similar lurch towards an homogenised curriculum with national SAT tests for all pupils almost as soon as they start education. In a sense, I know it makes sense to teach every kid basically the same stuff. In a different way I feel the richness of the system as a whole is devalued by the sameness of it, and society as a whole is poorer as a result. As for the tests, again I can see the value in being able to measure the performance of individual schools. At the same time, for Og’s sake, testing kids who have hardly got out of diapers?

Anyway, I feel your frustration.

3

I live in a predominantly middle class to upper middle class town. The schools here are supposed to be good to very good.

I volunteer to help out in the classrooms of these schools for a few hours a week, just because I know the teachers are overwhelmed at 30:1. It is scary what is happening in these reputed good schools. I can only imagine what is happening in poorer schools.

The advanced students are left pretty much to their own. They are bored and restless and completely unchallenged. The teacher spends 90% of his time working with the lower quarter of students because to fail any student would mean a disaster for the school. These aren’t ‘special’ students, either. Just this morning I was working with a 2nd grade student who could barely read “see spot run”. In less than an hour I had him sounding out words and figuring things out for himself. He was so excited to be able to do this on his own and took to it like a fish to water. This is a 2nd grade student reading at barely a kindergarten level. If his parents had spent 15 to 20 minutes a night reading with him, he would be a year ahead of where he is now. But no, they leave it up to the schools and so the teacher needs to spend 1 hour of a 5 hour day with 1 student working on fundamentals.

What is becoming of our school system is disheartening, to say the least. I’m not going to claim the sky is falling or we are all doomed. I just think there has to be a better way. More money would help, but throwing money at problems rarely fixes them. Legislating that no student shall fail will mean a severe loss at the top. There has to be a better way.

4

Thanks, I_C. And I was wrong about the number of schools that have become affected thus far in the year. The actual numbers for my entire county are 69. 69 schools are being sanctioned. 69.

The worst part is that I live in an area with a pretty good school system and most families have gobs of money.

As for standardized testing, I don’t feel it’s necessarily a bad thing. In the case of NCLB, it is however, because entire schools have had to drop their curriculums and instead formulate the school-wide curriculum to teach EXACTLY what is asked on the tests.

California has had standardized testing in public schools for years, so I am familiar with it. It sucked to take, but it truly wasn’t that difficult. We were one of the first states to require exit exams, too.

Sam

5

Bill, that’s what bothers me so much. The slower students are getting a boost, but the advanced students aren’t allowed to perform at their best because the teachers are concentrating on making sure that the baseline kids pass this stupid test.

And you’re right, the sky isn’t falling, but I fail to see how this can be turned into a boon for the US in time.

Sam

6

This is very frustrating! I see this a lot. I spend time at each of my kids’ schools. ( Three kids in three different school buildings ) I notice the kids that cling to me are the kids that seem to be the farthest behind. If their parents spent more time with them doing homework or just talking to them, it would do them a world of good!
The frustrating part of NCLB is that it is all on the teachers. Parents should have some responsibilities in their kids’ education. Unfortunately, I know no way to involve a parent that doesn’t care.

7

I’m friends with a few teachers, and not one thinks this is a good idea. This system leaves no room to teach kids to think for themselves, to ask questions, and to grow. They are taught to be trained monkeys performing for their masters.

8

Sometimes I wonder if NCLB is set up to fail-in a sort of backdoor way of getting rid of public education. If they keep making it so that schools are closing and failing…they can claim that public education isn’t working, and we should leave it to the private sector.

Yeah, it’s far fetched, but I’m that disgusted these days.

9

I don’t think it’s that far-fetched. I told my employer(an attorney), that this was maybe a way that the Conservative right or maybe just this administration’s tactic to get prayer allowed in school-break up the public education system so everyone has to join a religious, private or charter school.

I realize that it’s a might bit tin-foily, but in those 3 situation, religion is no longer regulated.

Sam

10

My wife is an elementary school teacher, and I just wanted to add my assent, that kids aren’t being taught to learn anymore, they have to be taught how to pass the damned tests. Teachers are pretty much just caught in the crossfire, between what they want to do (teach the kids and make them learn to love learning) and what they have to do (results, (i.e. social promotions in some situations) at any cost, with the administration being leaned on or money is withheld or whatever the punishments are). Combine the stupid prgram, with the low pay teachers make, and the long (10-14 hour) days they put in for a valiant but ultimately losing effort, it’s no wonder that the only losers are the kids.

11

(Slight Hijack…)

I personally think that all parents who help out in the classrooms are heroes. Good for you! (And even better for the kids!)

JOhn.

12

Here is another problematic aspect of NCLB:

13

Bingo.

My colleagues and I (in a Central Florida high school) have been polishing up this conspiracy theory for years. We haven’t proven everything just yet…

Seriously, I’d like to see more emphasis on adjusting the “standards” to fit the needs of the students and their communities. I’m especially confused at the legislation of the homogenous curriculum – why not have teach college-prep stuff to the college-bound, and other, more useful things to the non-college bound?

Sigh. I wish I had more actual job skills. Then I could stop teaching remedial algebra and open up a vocational-type charter school.

14

I’m a grad student who’ll be student teaching this fall & I concur with your assessment - as do most, if not all of my classmates. The situation seems to have gotten to the point where we have to sneak in the ‘teaching the kids how to really learn’ bits in amongst the “You must know this for the standardized tests!” curricula that we’re instructed to teach.

15

I dunno. The idea of setting different (read: lower) standards for communities (which communities, poor communities? minority communities?) could be construed as classist and/or racist, not to mention defeatist. I think it would likely be classist and/or racist in execution, anyway. shudder

Who would set the standards for what these “communities” need to know, and do they at least get a say?

How would the schools determine who was college-bound and who wasn’t, and at what age would they write off the non-college bound kids? This plan kinda scares me. Sounds like a great way to set up a caste system, though. :eek:

16

You misunderstood. It’s called “The No Child’s Behind Left Act”. Sheesh.

17

Not a problem. Just allow open enrollment in any advanced class. That’s what my district does, and it keeps things flexible. The kid and her parents can determine whether or not they go for AP or ROP. It keeps the AP classes from getting too stratified.

18

Not so far-fetched …

In the early days of the Ontario Harris-Eves (Conservative) gvt, the Minister of Education, John Snobelen, was “captured” on videotape “…saying he would invent a crisis to whip up support for overhauling the system.”

The article also quotes

19

Sure, this could work for AP stuff, but AlbertRose was talking about the homogeneous curriculum (AP is already a special curriculum), presumably meaning the stuff that is now taught to all students, like the 3 R’s, history, the arts, etc. He mentioned not having to teach remedial algebra anymore, which sounds like he believes that some people just don’t need to be taught math. He also said that the standards need to be tailored to the community, and not just individual students within a school.

20

Should doctors and hospitals be rewarded on how seldom they have sick or dying patients?

Should the Defense Department get more money when it avoids war?

Want to make school scores go up? Encourage students to drop out.

The NCLB program may have been well-intentioned, but it is extremely poorly designed and unreasonable. It violates basic principles of education and it evaluates schools as if they all start out on an even playing field. Was this plan cooked up by someone who had taken a course in production management?

If you go to a school in my neighborhood, the students will be speaking several different languages. Every student will be required to take the tests even if they arrived from Laos, Egypt, Cambodia or Mexico only last week.

It doesn’t matter if there is a flu epidemic and the schools are officially closed. They are still expected to give the test on that date or face the consequences. (That happened in a county near Nashville last year and sick children showed up so that their school wouldn’t be sanctioned.)

This is madness.