EdelBrock wrote:
This blue-eyed boy that wants to be wrote:
Obama, for the fact that this man wants to repeal one of the most ridiculous laws passed during the Bush Administration -- the No Child Left Behind Act.
If you have ever taught in an urban school district or were a student, you know how ludicrous this law is. Basically, when a school doesn't perform up to standard (based on state-wide test scores in which the exams vary in each state), a school is put on some list labeling it under performing. When a school is in that category, students can transfer to a better performing school in the district. In a city like Philadelphia, this means that many better performing (not good, but not failing, either) are picking up students from these poor-performing schools and are getting overcrowded. Meanwhile, the badly performing schools lose funding.
This just goes to show how poorly our nation's education system is being run. Perform badly (and if you've ever been in an urban school district, text books from over a decade ago, old buildings, and disruptive kids are the norm) and you're punished. And no one tries to figure out what, exactly, doesn't work.
I think your missing the real point of NCLB. While I don't think it is a good idea, there is good reason for it. Everyone wants to complain about how poorly our schools are run and how they vary so differently from State to State. This was a way for the Federal government to try and put pressure and a standard upon the schools.
I don't think it worked the way as planned, but it was a good effort. We can't find the best answer without trying out and refining ones that fail on the whole.... or you can't succeed without failing everyso often.
NCLB shows us where the failures are in our school system and proves how a simple test=funding doesn't equate properly.
Where to now though? Back to State run schools with no Federal oversight? Not sure that's a good idea either.... NCLB needs refinement, not dismissal...
But, aside from passing this law, the federal government hasn't done anything toward improving the education gap in this country. The funding is still the same. In PA, if you live in an area with higher property values, your school district gets more money per pupil. And, that means that in rich suburbs, students get textbooks from this decade, newer buildings, higher-paid teachers. That means that in Philadelphia, and post-industrial shit holes like Chester and Coatsville, students in 2008 are still using science textbooks from 1985, they have buildings which are falling apart, and teachers who would rather be doing something else -- if they have a teacher for this classroom. The NCLB act did nothing except show that, yes, urban schools suck and the students who have to use them need other options. But, where were the other options? If you live in Chester or Philly, you can't go to a school in a better performing district, your own district doesn't have enough money to buy you better books, and because your family can't afford a private school, you're stuck going to some poorly-performing school district for 13 years.
