Pigs like mud. They don’t have sweat glands, so they keep their skin healthy and comfortable by seeking wet and moist stuff to lay in. Wash off a hog, and you get dander, and skin oils, and globs of .. wet and moist stuff they found to lay in. Hogwash.
NBC News Correspondent Rehema Ellis writes a piece on No Child Left Behind, the seven-year old law that mandates teaching all children equally, and assuring that all pass. 1,000 pages long at the Federal level, the law impacts how classes are conducted, how teachers teach, and other matters of teaching and administration; it adds a bunch of stress to teaching and school admin careers.
I consider the law a clear violation of the spirit of Compulsory Education.
Way back when, the US Government realized that voting citizens had to be able to read official publications and campaign materials to meet their obligations. They needed to be able to write to be able to exercise their rights to contact their representatives. They needed to know enough about how government worked to understand - and criticize - that government. They needed enough basic math to understand the government and business to be responsible participants.
The concept was: Every school aged child was compelled to attend school. That is it. Attendance was mandatory to completion of Grade 8, what we call Junior High or Middle School, depending on your school district, or Age 16. Those limits, compelling to age 16 was accompanied by the third-time rule. If a student fails a grade, he repeats. After the second repeat, it is assumed he won’t do better a fourth time, and is promoted to the next grade anyway. Thus, the practical limit of age 16 for those that would not or could not learn the expected level of competency.
The community, through the Board of Education, was expected to decide what, beyond the basic reading, writing, and arithmetic and government, was appropriate for students in that community.
That was a realistic, harsh assessment: Not all kids can or will learn. Some have different needs, others have different talents. Note that the intent was *never* to provide an ‘education’ to the student. The intent was to assure that the citizenry had the basic skills to vote and exercise their citizenship.
Parents, families, and businesses were expected to assure most kids that would benefit from advanced schooling, like high school and college, would find the resources to continue the young adult’s education.
No Child Left Behind is a continuation of the modern Democratic Party liberal agenda - spend money to buy votes, to win voter loyalty. They put out a school program for better education, and shout, “See, we bought your kid an education! We serve your needs! Vote for us!” It is quite cynical, really. And appallingly effective.
Check with your local school. Ask about the ‘multiple handicap’ program. Ask about the cost, to the school district in total budget dollars, and in dollars not funded by the Federal government, for providing full-time care, one or two certified para-professionals per one or two students in the multiple handicap program.
I don’t disparage teaching any student. But I seriously question spending public school money to provide care for kids that are barely aware of their surroundings, are confined to stretchers, walkers, or fail to master use of a keyboard, a crayon, or use the bathroom unassisted. They need the care, and what education will benefit them. But if they are going to spend their lives as a legal ward of someone, they won’t be voting - and public school dollars should not be paying for their care. To age 22.
I understand that many students in this program have a much longer and fuller life expectancy than before the Department of Education began including them in their care. But ask your school board about the cost to the district of all students in the Multiple Handicap program, the number of students involved, and compare that to the average cost per seat per pupil in the district.
Private schools often show a much better track record for graduating students than public schools. Unlike public schools, a private or parochial school may expel a student that disrupts a classroom, that provides an example of refusing to learn.
No Child Left Behind retains kids in class that provide examples of disruptive behavior. As I recall, classroom discipline - keeping kids on lesson and paying attention - is the biggest part of the weakness of today’s education.
The original concept of Compulsory Education was that the compulsion was on the parents. A child skips school, goes truant? The parent could go to jail. The kid gets thrown out of school? The parent is the one responsible for settling issues with the public school, or making other arrangements.
Today, though, the Public School system is held responsible. They are not permitted to expel those that cannot be taught within the budget of the school system, or that disrupt or injure classmates and teachers.
Parents aren’t held accountable, so the child often fails, also.
One for-instance. Say a group of kids is found with drugs amongst them. I would expel the whole bunch. Let each parent prove, to the school’s satisfaction, that their little Johnny and little Susie were hanging with a drug-using crowd but didn’t know there were drugs. Boom. In one fell swoop, you put fear of being expelled, not suspended, to work keeping kids turned away from drugs.
There are criminals so used to being arrested they find jail time to be a tally, a marker of how well they did at breaking the law. So there are students so used to being punished, that disciplinary action is seen as a trophy, not an impetus to change. We fail to respect good behavior when we tolerate in any way disrespect. How can we expect students to respect each other if we fail to administer rules with meaningful consequences?
No Child Left Behind is fatally flawed.
- Kids that disrupt or aren’t motivated aren’t separated from the ‘main stream’
- Public schools are required to go to heroic and expensive efforts to make up for failed
or bad home conditions, that impair a student’s ability and motivation to learn.
- Washington, D.C. sets ’standards’ that become limits and ceilings - no school can afford to exceed the federal standard. The process sets a specific goal, not a minimum threshhold. No one gets more dollars, more education, more class time for excelling.
- Local needs and community values are ignored for Congress’ need to spend tax money to buy votes.
Ms. Ellis, I see that you want the basic tenets of No Child Left Behind to be kept. I suggest you make sure your private school does so. For public education, the fiction of using local tax money for local control has been prostituted by the Department of Education, and especially the No Child Left Behind law.