A high school teacher on "what's right, wrong with public education"
Nov 9, 2007 -
Although the reasons are manifold, at the heart of the issue is still the ignorance and absurdity of what the No Child Left Behind Act calls "accountability." The act demands that students be able to perform well on tests, never mind whether or not the tests are accurate measures of what students can do.Read the whole thing and judge for yourself.
As we've moved into the 21st century, suddenly our public education system dropped back into the 19th. It is understandable on one level that having standards and knowing "the basics" is important. While 21st century America is no longer an agrarian society where harvest time trumps classwork, our school system not only reflects that era in its physical structure, but the act has schools reflecting the past with its demands for rote learning, standardized tests and "accountability" that holds only teachers accountable.
TT - The problem with public schools is that teachers, unions, state and local school admistrators have pretty much dictated what and how schools will teach for forty years. And since the 60s, there has been a marked decrease in the quality of high school graduates. It's most clearly seen at the college level where remedial education has become big business as students take out school loans to pay for remedial classes to learn what they should have learned in high school. And didn't. It's also a common complaint of businesses who have to spend billions training workers in basic skills like reading and writing in order to be basically qualified for a job.
Educators have used every excuse for the failure and blamed everyone but the the education establishment. Children come from poor homes. There's a language barrier. Parents are unsupportive. Video games. Lack of communication skills. Not enough money. Too few teachers. Teacher pay. Classroom size.
What the No Child Left Behind Act does is to force teachers and schools to focus on learning. That is what schools are supposed to do. What the No Child Left Behind Act does is define the problem. For decades schools have dumbed down their examinations so that their lack of teaching isn't apparent. Again, using the same excuses. Even proposing Eubonics to connect with children.
The No Child Left Behind Act requires schools to test children and the effectiveness of teaching and persistent failure on the tests gives parents the opportunity to send their children to other, more successful, schools. That's why teachers and teachers unions hate it. Because, for once, children come first.
And isn't that just too damned bad?
But it's still the same babble from yet another educator.
