Sunday, May 22, 2011
The President's Weekly Address. The replacement of NCLB.
Everybody has the one issue they are desperate for this President to take on.
Whether it be ending the war, ending discrimination against the LGBT community, fixing the job crisis, or any number of other potential crises facing this country, there are millions of people clamoring to have it addressed. But for me that issue is the repeal of No Child Left Behind.
Don''t get me wrong, I totally want to end the wars, fix the economy, get equal rights for everybody, etc., etc., etc.. But in my opinion getting rid of this deeply flawed approach to education in this country should be one of this President's top priorities. And I am very glad to see that it is finally going to be addressed.
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About bloody time. I was taking master's level classes with a bunch of teachers, and they absolutely hated it. Sucked all the joy out of teaching because EVERYTHING depended on the outcome of the testing. Several schools in our area "cheated" in order to make the grade. What does that tell the students???
ReplyDeleteI have a comment about WendyWaitress. I dont remember what thread that comment was in. I sincerely doubt everything that person said just like how I doubt that person who supposedly works in a doctors office where Bristol had cosmetic surgery. Tripp calls Sarah Nana. I've seen her dine out several times, in Alaska and elsewhere - in the past (15 years ago) and present. She is NOT like that. I know you could never possibly believe me, as it seems to be a liberals MO to doubt everything positive but it's true.
ReplyDeleteAs a teacher, I couldn't agree with you more. This ill-conceived, unfunded law, promoted by a child who was left behind (GWB), has brought advances in educational practices to a screeching halt.
ReplyDeleteCheck out Tom Chapin's take on NCLB, "It's Not on the Test":
ReplyDeletehttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8dAujuqCo7s
Then link on down to another of his classics, "Go Away, Sarah Palin!":
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IC4N5wkp2Ug&feature=related
One of the news shows last night was talking about how the use for a college education is seen as waste of money for many people these days since there are so few jobs out there requiring college degrees. Given the cost of college I suspect we'll see fewer enrollments, hence even more increases in tuition. The net result is going to be a backward track that the far right wingnuts seem to desire. A return to the good old days when most people didn't go to college. The dumbing down of America is in full attack mode. Let's get back to those thrilling days of yesterday when most people were uneducated, oddly a shift from the rest of the world who seem to feel education is a priority
ReplyDeleteI watched an excellent CNN special yesterday, "Education in America: Don't Fail Me". The focus was on high school kids involved in robotics competition but they drove home the point of how our education system is failing and, specifically, how NCLB has decreased competency levels. The program was both upsetting and inspiring. Hopefully, it will run again or be available on the net.
ReplyDeleteRE: Trolling about Wendy.... I didn't think the Palin household got up that early, or haven't you been to bed yet. Maybe you'd be better off reading the story about how Ailes thinks his protegee Saree is stupid - that should get a much large reaction. Shall we look for your tweet later today or just wait for your FB update?
ReplyDeleteDuring GWB's "reign" I traveled on a shuttle to the airport in a large city. As is my usual behavior I "interviewed" my seat mate, a mature lady, willing to chat after I opened the conversation.
ReplyDeleteAs usual for me, I plied her with questions about the gentleman who dropped her off, her reason for travel, and then her "sense" of the outcome of her consulting.
She shared that her role was mentoring, evaluating public school teachers in their grasp of promoting the "No Child Left Behind" approach in the classes they taught.
After a period of being acquainted with her role and getting some of my questions about NCLB answered I went farther. "What do you think the purpose of this underfunded bill is," I asked with feigned innocence.
She replied with discreet, but unflinching directness, that it was eventually to do away with the public school system.
I fed her back that information to give her a chance to rescind her reply. It did not happen. She went on to flesh out her opinion with plausible support and said it did not interfere with her goal to help the classroom teachers maintain the process of keeping their job.
I will not give more information about the consultant as it could be yet damming to her. I was impressed with her apparently honest assessment of the long term goal of NCLB, but more by her need to help the teachers get through the terror of holding on to their jobs while "dumbing down" the students with the short sightedness of diminishing the classroom offerings.
NCLB was a boondoggle for the Bush industries. One of the main companies that sold those tests is owned in part by that family (same one old Barb was donating money to after Katrina). It was just another tossing of federal dollars to the wealthy, the same with Iraq and Afghanistan where our treasury was sent to the military industrial complex corporations (yet again...)
ReplyDeleteI have to share what my grandson came home with a paper from the school maybe 4 years ago. I was fit to be tied I just couldnot believe that they would do something so stupid. This is TN, the school had a drive to collect canned goods for 1 ministry. The more canned food a child could bring they earned points to boost up their grades. Up to 40 points. The points could be used one 1 subject, or split up anyway the parent wanted, or all subjects. So the parents who could afford to spead on more canned food and brought to school, more points their kid earned. I could see if it was a school project and the kids went out and collected canned goods and maybe handed out bags of canned goods to those in need, and in the process earn xtra credit for social studies. This was parents spending and bring canned goods, to school to get their kids better grades. I really felt like this was cheating for grades, maybe it's just me
ReplyDeleteI'm a teacher...
ReplyDeleteApparently it never crossed the lawmakers' minds to figure out how exactly teachers would get every kid to score above 40% on a standardized test. Umm...go ahead...think about what you know about statistics...if everyone is over the 40th percentile, then what happens to the 39% below it?
This law was total bullshit, promoted by those who know nothing, and even less about education.
8:34am - No, it is not just you. This is the training of young Rethuglicans so when they become young right wingers they won't be concerned about ethics or the means to get to an end.
ReplyDeleteNO! It isn't.
ReplyDeleteRace to the To is the same sort of punishment that NCLB is but in a more insidious way. You only get the money if your reforms conform to the reforms that Arne Duncan (amateur) thinks will work. His my way or the highway approach penalizes schools by withholding funding. It's only given to the pet schools that accept Arne's dictatorial and misplaced educational philosophies.
Sorry, but this is still a FAIL.