No Child Left Behind (NCLB) (click here) is the current incarnation of President Lyndon Johnson’s Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965
(ESEA), whose purpose was to raise achievement and close achievement
gaps. NEA strongly supports these goals and is working to give all
children great public schools. But educators know that NCLB as currently
written can’t get us there....
was passed in 1965 (click here) as a part of the "War on Poverty." ESEA
emphasizes equal access to education and establishes high standards and
accountability. The law authorizes federally funded education programs
that are administered by the states. In 2002, Congress amended ESEA and
reauthorized it as the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB)....
Testing requirements robbed the treasuries for school curriculum. Basically, this is divide and conquer and privatize the monies into charter schools. NCLB is a profit scheme. There is a lot of money in the public school system. There was no way of putting the money into Wall Street pockets while isolating the education to serve Wall Street without first dissolving the education cirriculum of the USA.
Don't play the word game with me about non-profit. The Roman Catholic Church is a non-profit, too. If there weren't people making money from non-profits they would not exist.
By SAM DILLON
Published: March 26, 2006
SACRAMENTO — Thousands of schools (click here) across the nation are responding to
the reading and math testing requirements laid out in No Child Left
Behind, President Bush's signature education law, by reducing class time
spent on other subjects and, for some low-proficiency students,
eliminating it....
...The intense focus on the two basic skills is a sea change in American
instructional practice, with many schools that once offered rich
curriculums now systematically trimming courses like social studies,
science and art. A nationwide survey by a nonpartisan group that is to
be made public on March 28 indicates that the practice, known as
narrowing the curriculum, has become standard procedure in many
communities....
..."Narrowing the curriculum has clearly become a nationwide pattern," said
Jack Jennings, the president of the center, which is based in
Washington....
...About 125 of the school's lowest-performing students are barred from
taking anything except math, reading and gym, a measure that Samuel
Harris, a former lieutenant colonel in the Army who is the school's
principal, said was draconian but necessary. "When you look at a kid and
you know he can't read, that's a tough call you've got to make," Mr.
Harris said....
...Sydney Smith, a vice principal who oversees instruction at the
school, said she had heard only minimal grumbling from students excluded
from electives.
"I've only had about two students come to my
office and say: 'What in the world? I'm just taking two courses?' " Ms.
Smith said. "So most students are not complaining about being
miserable."
But Lorie Turner, who teaches English to some pupils
for three consecutive periods and to others for two periods each day,
said she used some students' frustration to persuade them to try for
higher scores on the annual exams administered under California's
Standardized Testing and Reporting program, known as Star.
"I
have some little girls who are dying to get out of this class and get
into a mainstream class," Ms. Turner said. "But I tell them the only way
out is to do better on that Star test."
Children forced into concentrating on passing tests never get an education. They only learn to cope with their sequestered reality and stigmatism. There were plenty of students in my school system that weren't A or B students. They sometimes continued to attempt to achieve in the regular school setting or they were allowed to attend trade/vocational school in the county school system. There was plenty of sensitivity to the underachieved and it never meant they were isolated to only one path of education.
If economies are local and the people know the needs of their children, then curriculum decisions need to be made among the educators and their administration. That means the School Board and the Superintendent actually have a job to do.
Stop privatizing education, it is robbing our children of their futures. Parents have to trust those responsible for the education of their children.
My parents were involved in the city where we lived with whatever time they had free to do so. They attended meetings and read minutes and educated themselves to the issues of the day. The local newspaper came out once a week and was delivered and the daily paper was delivered. What has happened to priorities of this country? If parents and citizens want to read their papers on the internet then do so, but, don't think being uneducated about your local government will get you what you want. It won't.
Do you ever have to borrow a cup of milk or the sharpener for the lawn mower blades? Do you know your neighbors? We knew ours. We all agreed about important problems. We went to each other homes and played pinocle. We had barbeques that weren't complete without the neighbors. The children played together and we didn't worry about Halloween, except, if the kids got caught taking the toilet paper out of the bathroom.
Life is work and it isn't always the paycheck that makes life 'worth it.' But. My mother and father worked for companies and made good salaries. They got by just fine with each working a full time job.
Hello, America?
Is the priority of quality time at home actually still an American value that means you love your kids?
