Ron from Syracuse writes:

I hope the next President does away with No Child Left Behind, better known as No Child Gets Ahead. Teachers are enforcing mediocrity, not excellence, and are more concerned with children's self-esteem than their competence. I don't care if my nephew has low self-esteem; I want him to be able to read and comprehend, write a proper letter and understand calculus. If he can't do that, he shouldn't graduate.


i thought this was great

Ron from Syracuse writes:

I hope the next President does away with No Child Left Behind, better known as No Child Gets Ahead. Teachers are enforcing mediocrity, not excellence, and are more concerned with children's self-esteem than their competence. I don't care if my nephew has low self-esteem; I want him to be able to read and comprehend, write a proper letter and understand calculus. If he can't do that, he shouldn't graduate.


i thought this was great

It seems Ron has bought into the system whole-heartedly. Either he didn't give a great deal of thought to his statement or he is not aware that he is advancing a system that tells our children that they are only as good as this oppressive system says they are based on subjective standards.

First of all realize that the formal education system is geared towards two things. Believe what we tell you to believe wheather it is logica/factual or not. And to teach our children to fight for a good J.O.B. (Just over broke). In both instances once our children have bought into it by believing that they can only be as good as this system says they are we are doomed. So we must take care to help our children's self-esteem or they will suffer greatly.

It seems Ron has bought into the system whole-heartedly. Either he didn't give a great deal of thought to his statement or he is not aware that he is advancing a system that tells our children that they are only as good as this oppressive system says they are based on subjective standards.

First of all realize that the formal education system is geared towards two things. Believe what we tell you to believe wheather it is logica/factual or not. And to teach our children to fight for a good J.O.B. (Just over broke). In both instances once our children have bought into it by believing that they can only be as good as this system says they are we are doomed. So we must take care to help our children's self-esteem or they will suffer greatly.


i think RON, is saying he just wants his nephew to have a fighting chance

i understand what he's saying and i understand what you're saying

but the system is not going anywhere, not right this minute,

why not build self-esteem and educate,

i think ron meant sacrificing competence for self-esteem is not helpful

so you can feel good about yourself but if you can't read and write

well....................................

It seems Ron has bought into the system whole-heartedly. Either he didn't give a great deal of thought to his statement or he is not aware that he is advancing a system that tells our children that they are only as good as this oppressive system says they are based on subjective standards.

First of all realize that the formal education system is geared towards two things. Believe what we tell you to believe wheather it is logica/factual or not. And to teach our children to fight for a good J.O.B. (Just over broke). In both instances once our children have bought into it by believing that they can only be as good as this system says they are we are doomed. So we must take care to help our children's self-esteem or they will suffer greatly.

Brother A007:

While I do have a problem with Ron's statement about of low self-esteem his main point was right on target. Our children do need to be able to put a simple sentence together..to understand what they are reading..and to advance as much as possible in the field of mathematic. So to me he has not bought into the system. But quite the opposite....I have had the, I want to say pleasure of meeting some of these kids that he's is talking about. But after talking with them what was pleasure quickly turn to disbelief. Some can't even do simple math.....

How can we raise a nation of builders in our struggle if they are not prepared? How can we enlighten our children if they can't even read what we are writing for them to see years form now...not just today? How can we expect them to read a slide rule or take us to the next level of this struggle if they are not prepared? Low self-esteem is something that can be molded and shaped with ever hurdle that they overcome and this will give them confidence.... confidence and pride..pride in the things that they have achieved and confidence in knowing that if a problem should arise they can handle or solve it. I could go on and on, but I'm sure you or others may have something you'd like to say......

Lilpea

Ron from Syracuse writes:

I hope the next President does away with No Child Left Behind, better known as No Child Gets Ahead. Teachers are enforcing mediocrity, not excellence, and are more concerned with children's self-esteem than their competence. I don't care if my nephew has low self-esteem; I want him to be able to read and comprehend, write a proper letter and understand calculus. If he can't do that, he shouldn't graduate.


i thought this was great

Self esteem is the cornerstone of success, if you dont have it you really cant have anything or do anything for that matter....

Self esteem is the cornerstone of success, if you dont have it you really cant have anything or do anything for that matter....

yes appreciating one's self is the first step, i think Ron was saying it should

be the ONLY thing, we need other tools out here

not disagreeing with you here

Self esteem is the cornerstone of success, if you dont have it you really cant have anything or do anything for that matter....

True that Sister Each1...but is this something that we are born with..or does it grow as we grow?

I do think that we are born being aware of self. Infact I read that a baby is aware of its being and place in space around 4 to 5 months gestation! (isnt that amazing) However I think that self esteem something that has to be encouraged and built upon. It can grow or diminish depending on the type of encouragement or lack thereof we recieve as children.

i think RON, is saying he just wants his nephew to have a fighting chance

i understand what he's saying and i understand what you're saying

but the system is not going anywhere, not right this minute,

why not build self-esteem and educate,

i think ron meant sacrificing competence for self-esteem is not helpful

so you can feel good about yourself but if you can't read and write

well....................................


I really didn't get to finish because I was rushed...but I do understand and agree that our children should be able to read and write. But, if you all take a look at the post, you will see that Ron was talking about mediocrity not incompetence. I 100 percent agree with teaching our children to read and write...WELL. But, beyond that the formal educational system is not the end all be all to our success...even in this system.

I am in Memphis,Tn where children are graded on an unusually high grading scale that does nothing but separate the children and humiliate "average" children with D's and F's. I am not speaking of children who can't read and write but children who get 73 percent and get a D which will prevent them from passing to the next grade if there are enough of them. While in the white school system that I grew up in (jr. high and high school) 73 was a C and was good enough to pass every grade and even get into a state college. I know of two such average white students (good friends of mine) who did just that and now one owns a construction company and one owns a glass company. Now these same average students(black or white) in this school system would have been crushed until the weight of 73 percent D's that say they aren't going to amount to anything. I see it happen every day. When you kill an average child's confidence and take his self-esteem he will turn to the first them that makes him/her feel good about themselves. Here in Memphis that is Gang affiliations and dealing drugs. I am fortunate enough to have 2 above average sons and 2 average sons but all of them know that hard work will pay off even if it doesn't in the way of an acedemic scholarship. I make them study because they need to learn discipline not because I care what grades they make (as long as they pass). I get on to them for being lazy...not for having average grades. They all read and write well enough to learn any life lesson that they need. Now, it is my job to teach them how to be successful in this life...and formal education does not seem to be the answer.

Speaking as a teacher, I must say I understand where Ron was essentially coming from. Before I even begin to reply I must say that I believe that it takes a village to raise a child. But at some point we must hold the parents reponsible. My job is to educate your child and to prepare him/her for the real world not pamper him and give him a false sense of self. However this current No Child Left Behind policy is more about making you feel good then making you be good. But what happen to feeling good about achievement and being proud of a job well done. I agree that some students are only going to reach average but does that mean I should set the standards lower. Why not set the bar high and push the students to achieve.

Speaking as a teacher, I must say I understand where Ron was essentially coming from. Before I even begin to reply I must say that I believe that it takes a village to raise a child. But at some point we must hold the parents reponsible. My job is to educate your child and to prepare him/her for the real world not pamper him and give him a false sense of self. However this current No Child Left Behind policy is more about making you feel good then making you be good. But what happen to feeling good about achievement and being proud of a job well done. I agree that some students are only going to reach average but does that mean I should set the standards lower. Why not set the bar high and push the students to achieve.

I definitely hear that...the sad thing is that America will be left behind in the future due to this "dumbing down process". I remember hearing in the news that foriegners particularly japanese and chinese students in thier respective countries are much further ahead than our children in math and science. They also dominate those career fields and receive grants, scholarships and in the end jobs right here in america. Not that its a bad thing but it becomes such when we dont put our own to the test and raise the bar.

First allow me to empathize with anyone interacting with the school system in Amerikkka. I have family on the East coast that have described school experiences that raise the hair on the back of my neck. Your challenges are by no means ignorable, but not altogether insurmountable.

When I looked up the NCLB policy, a few items stood out to me. 1) "The purpose of this title is to ensure that all children have a fair, equal, and significant opportunity to obtain a high-quality education..." how can capitalist countries proclaim to desire this result when it is the antithesis of what the matrix / economic system is designed for? Why would a country that needs to exploit labor in various degrees want to equally educated the masses, that makes absolutely no sense. For example: lets say that one family earns their wealth from the employment of migrant workers, or immigrants who have no accreditation, or marginalized people. Their power will ensure that their taxes build schools where computers are available for each child and the libraries are filled with present day related material, and the curriculm is designed to foster leadership, creativity and control. And most importantly, they will ensure that their children are kept separate from the children of the parents that their companies employ!

The second item that stands out 2) "meeting the educational needs of low-achieving children in our Nation's highest-poverty schools, limited English proficient children, migratory children, children with disabilities, Indian children, neglected or delinquent children, and young children in need of reading assistance;"

I could not located in the NCLB iniative a proposal for subsidized lunches which are probably crucial to the success of low income children. I don't care what the parents and teachers do or how they do it, if a child hasn't the proper nutrition and enough of it, their brains and muscles do not develop properly and they simply cannot think! I'm going to keep looking to see if this was a part of the program, but I would suggest that it is a most important element.

What I did find that was not only usable but rather right on target was the pamphlet on How To Help Your Children Succeed. Many of the suggestions are precisely what your middle class and more affluent homes do to ensure scholastic success... it's well written and I agreed with much of what was proposed which means parental involvement.

As they suggest, have a good supploy of age relevant books and learning materials within your home.
[/list]Psychology of the Black Child is really such an essential book for parents that are interested in actively providing the environment condusive for learning. The differences between Black, White, Hispanic are not racial, they are generational and behavioral, and in some cases economic. If a child does not receive enough positive attention within the home and hasn't the proper nutrition for their brain and bodies to grow on, then it wouldn't matter what the state did within the school, the child is going to be held back and institutionalized.

One of the best things that parents can do for their children is to ensure that their child is not labelled with a learning or behavioral disability... this stigmata will hand the child over to the state in so many different ways, and the methodologies they employ to retard and destroy the self-esteem of a child is part of the reason for generational poverty and crime.

I think that the parts of the iniative that ought to confronted and challenged is the curriculm. Based on the documentation on Helping Your Child Learn History, the state says that History is "History is a permanent written record of the past. In more recent times, history is also recorded on film, video, audiotape and through digital technology. You might tell your child that the time before we had any way to record events is called prehistory. It was in prehistorical times that dinosaurs walked the Earth....

All good histories are based on evidence. Your child needs to learn the importance of evidence, and she needs the critical thinking skills to evaluate historical accounts and to determine whether the they are based on solid evidence or rely too heavily on personal interpretation and opinion.

History is written by those in current power, and evidence can be manipulated, hidden, destroyed or exaggerated. As the NCLB policy states the importance of History helps a child in "finding their place in history by helping them learn what shaped the world into which they were born". Hence the necessity for Afrocentric schools, because the Amerikkan government will not give historical truth to anyone's children.

The Apartheid government of South Africa wanted to shape the mentality of it's citizens, so it was taught in all schools that there were no Black skinned Africans in country of South Africa until after the Whites arrived! I was shocked, but that was what Professor Henry Louis Gates Jr. revealed during his trip there. In addition, the South African government has hidden and stockpiled traces of original African civilization, while remaking History in the form of a fantasy theme park... Ahhhh the White Power reeks again.

But I digress. The schools are a part of the "system".. we can only do our best to assist our children in become knowledgeable and able to "learn".... even after we are gone, and once we have instilled this ability, their self esteem in turn rises giving them the best chance of success in all areas of life.

All quotes taken from the online source of http://www.ed.gov/nclb/landing.jhtml

Actually, as a Student and teacher, I support the No Child Left Behind (NCLB) Act. I support it, because as far as I see it, it puts states responsible for their very own school districts; the U.S. Department of Education would distribute extended resources enabling states to get their students a quality education.

If NCLB needs to go, that will prove 2 things to me:

(1) States can not handle teaching their own students

which means...

(2) Every State Department of Education needs to go, and all should become mini-U.S. Federal Departments of Education

This is regardless of what and how I feel about the western education system. I mean, you have city school boards, principals, social workers, counselors, county school boards, school coordinators, superintendents, school liaisons, parents, guardians, volunteers in the school, etc.; Since when do you look past all that and go straight to the U.S. Dept. of Education for help on how to teach your students to pass your tests, quizzes, and exams? It would be completely insane for the Federal Government to have to comprise 50+ educational curriculums serving 50+ different states, county boards, and districts. That is why every state has their own rights, their own Education departments, health departments, transportation departments, etc. If they can not handle it, then they should all be taken away, and replaced with federal governance.

Once again, go ahead and get rid of NCLB, but rest assure that that would simply mean that states failed to educate their students on their own, and therefore must rely on federal government sources (and resources) to get their students through school. Granted, I agree that U.S. Government did not have to try and make it seem as if they are doing any benefit; they just had to tell it like it is: U.S. states - educate your children.

KWABENA

I definitely hear that...the sad thing is that America will be left behind in the future due to this "dumbing down process". I remember hearing in the news that foriegners particularly japanese and chinese students in thier respective countries are much further ahead than our children in math and science. They also dominate those career fields and receive grants, scholarships and in the end jobs right here in america. Not that its a bad thing but it becomes such when we dont put our own to the test and raise the bar.

I was watching program on Georgia Public Broadcasting last week which focused on some 11th graders in Atlanta metro schools. A major part of the problem is high drop out rates. Alot of these folks end up jobless and hanging out in the 'underground' or train and bus stations just 'drifting'. They have not only been left behind but shut out. In some districts this is over 50% of the school population. What happens to the other half? Many cant pass exit exams to graduate. So they also drop out.

No Child Left Behind doesn't soften the students it's there to make sure they fail. It was brutal at my school, with all the exams, gateways, SENIOR PROJECT(something someone at a big corporation would be asked to do), regular tests, quizzes, homework assignments. No Child Left Behind was really trying to flunk us all by giving us impossible workloads and making us fear the Gateway Exams. If anything it does toughen you up, but it's obviously there for kids to fail.

Peace Africana:

Thank you for your input. Do you honestly think the following is strictly based on NCLB:

It was brutal at my school, with all the exams, gateways, SENIOR PROJECT(something someone at a big corporation would be asked to do), regular tests, quizzes, homework assignments. No Child Left Behind was really trying to flunk us all by giving us impossible workloads and making us fear the Gateway Exams.

If this was the case, then getting rid of NCLB would only mean reducing the ability for U.S. students to compete on a global level. Do you know that some countries (the U.S. is ranked between 35th-45th by the way in the world when it comes to education) receive workloads as heavy as this with little to no accompanying resources, and still manage to get their work done (not to mention, successfully) without any complaints or excuses?

I understand your viewpoint; I myself am a Student all across the board. In fact, I still have about 5-10 years left before I officially complete Western education and training. We have an abundance of resources, much material; the U.S. Government should not have to "milk" us through school...when every state has its own "system" to "milk" its students through. On that note, as I mentioned previously, NCLB does expose the lazy jobs state governments are doing to get their students through school. If it really meant failing the students through the above-mentioned in the quote, then teachers and faculty are not stupid; they would be protesting and boycotting that thing to hell. Not only that, but they would be very reluctant to distribute work and assignments. I know teachers and professors in various schools who give the work they give with alacrity and determination - whether it be easy for the students or hard. Then again, we need to remember that State Departments of Education are responsible for them as well.

In sum, we need the competition, but we also need to utilize the resources available to us to handle the competition. I say we need it, because now a multitude of non-U.S. citizens are coming over and making things happen. They get the same work, except use their resources better. Senior Projects are hard, but after reviewing the projects say 3x, I am pretty sure it would come to you what you would need to get the project done successfully, as well as what is available to you to get it done successfully.

KWABENA