I graduated from New York University one year ago, and then I moved to the Navajo Reservation in western New Mexico. Working on the Navajo Nation as a high school teacher has allowed me to experience the educational challenges in a low income community. My students consist of a portion of the population that experiences many of the central problems that face America’s education system today.
The education system in the United States is not categorically “bad.” There are plenty of great schools in the United States; the problem is that there are also many underachieving schools. These lower-achievement schools are overwhelmingly located in lower-income areas (both rural and urban) throughout the country, while rich communities have great schools. Because kids with wealthy parents tend to get a better education, they tend to secure higher-paying jobs as adults and have more overall educational opportunities, and the cycle repeats. The problem of education, then, is one of socioeconomics.
The No Child Left Behind Act (herein NCLB) was an honest attempt to level the playing field for all children. It essentially said, “Okay, the core subjects (math and literacy) are probably the most important across the board. Let’s develop tests and hold schools accountable to performance on these tests.” Honestly, I think this is a good idea. Creating a standard in which the expectation is for every student that graduates from high school to perform on a certain standard in the areas of reading and math is a great plan for improving the state of our nation. Holding school districts, teachers, students, and parents accountable is a good way to get this done. However, there are numerous problems with the law:
2) Because only core subjects are emphasized, schools have lost funding for programs in the arts, vocations, and other electives. (John Stossel explores the severity of this issue).
3) The law disregards the nature of education as a wholistic, civic system. Families of children in lower-income communities generally face a host of other problems that are less common in rich communities, such as healthcare, transportation, crime, and poverty. I have noticed that many people in this thread would like to hold parents more accountable (as a high school teacher, I agree!) but we must recognize that lower-income families often do not have the time or resources to be as involved in students’ educations. Some parents need to put bread on the table first and worry about their child’s “gold star” on a math quiz second.
4) Individual schools tend to take the blame for poor performance under NCLB, but often school district administrations are to blame. This is primarily a local issue, but school districts need to become more efficient in terms of financial responsibility.
5) Broadly, No Child Left Behind creates a problem because it gave schools a goal, but it did not provide methodology or money for achieving that goal. It is an unfunded mandate. Moreover, it does not provide extra funding to suffering schools which are commonly under-funded to begin with. Instead, it rewards high-achieving schools, thus furthering the problem of socioeconomic and educational stratification.
6) Lastly, No Child Left Behind and its interface with the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (the law that impacts Special Education) has created some moral and social obligation issues for teachers like me.
HOW do we ensure that each American child, rich or poor, receives the opportunity to receive an excellent education? This is a complicated problem that will take years to mend. We need to re-prioritize education in our national budget. For example, with the money spent on the Iraq War thus far, our country could have built more than 34,000 brand new schools. If we are to nationalize education (as seen in NCLB), we need to develop a better action plan to bring schools to better levels of achievement. We need to diversify the American education with art, vocations, music, athletics, and all of the other programs that are rampantly losing their funding. These programs are often a major factor in students enjoying school and motivating them to achieve throughout the entire curriculum. We need to reorganize low-performing school districts. Most importantly, in my opinion, we need to recognize educational failure as a socioeconomic issue. Whether students are white, black, Chicano or Navajo, they have less opportunity in lower-income areas. With the system as it is, the United States is not the land of equality.
alexraul
We have to start with some known facts. For those who prefer to do so, refer to the facts as "assumptions". (1) An ever-increasing number of kids are going to private schools or are being home-schooled. (2) The disappearance of these students downgrades the learning atmosphere and reduces the willingness of the voting population to fund education. (3) The disproportionate percentage of students in bad schools are racial minorities and/or of lower economic levels. Unity08 should start with #3. We have to admit this is the case before it can be fixed. In order to fix the issue we should require a certain level of reading comprehension before the formal schooling begins. That would automatically mean that minorities would enter the formal programs behind others. The thrust of a Unity08 program should be to involve minorities in the test and design of such a program. Doing this seems obvious. Getting the detail right and avoiding accusations of racism will be the hard part.
What makes No Child Left Behind so unpopular with teachers is that it indicates thier inadequacies and provides accountibility. If they teach the test, so be it. The tests are engineered to present what is required to be known at that grade level.
There should not be one program that gives any more funding based of one's racial or minority status. That is racism. All programs should be distributed evenly. Giving minorities a "leg up" only creates another sense of entitlement that cripples those involved and implies that there is an active movement to "suppress minorities".
What NEEDS to be addressed is school funding on a state and local level. What needs to be addressed is financial accountibilty in school administrations. Large football programs, audio visual departments, etc. are funded at the expense of what the school is intended to provide in the first place-education. I swear I've seen it in my own district where they "earmark" thier referendum for LCD screens that the use for thier A/V department, still wheeling them in on monitor television carts. Is it really neccescary? No one wants to breach this subject as no one wants to be known to be "against education" or any other silly accusation.
Perhaps, we need to take a cue from where foreign schools stick to the basics and then specialize in higher education, eliminating such useless electives in our careers that we all HAD to take. We need to level the field in this global economy. We need to ask why and how 1 out of 3 doctors are foriegn? We need to look at thier education paths and disciplines.