Education - A Better Direction for K-12
One of the great achievements of America has been the establishment of a vibrant public school system. The first publicly supported school was founded in Boston, Massachusetts in 1635, and from that beginning locally controlled public schools have been established in virtually all parts of our nation. Public schools have been charged explicitly with delivering knowledge to the young. Public schools also serve as the "common carriers" of American culture, exposing children to the core beliefs and traditions formed by our national experience. In fact, attendance at public school-shared by about 90% of all Americans-is one of the most common experiences for our citizens.
The No Child Left Behind Act, support by President Bush and Rep. Ken Calvert was promoted under the guise of closing achievement gaps between students of different ethnicities, language backgrounds, learning disabilities, and from different socio-economic segments of society. In reality, the aim of this massive legislation seems to be the dismantlement of public schools. The destructive actual agenda is achieved by imposing rigid, unattainable mandates, and when mandated test results fall short for one group or another, the hammer is dropped on local schools and they are declared failures.
All students can learn, however educators-as well as parents-know that not all students learn the same way or at the same pace. NCLB one-size-fits-all mandates not only fail our students, but make a mockery of local community control of schools. Heavy-handed federal control is not what local boards of education need, nor will stigmatizing local schools benefit local communities.
Parents, communities, and local boards of education need to design programs to prepare children to successfully face the challenges of the 21st century. Strangling educators with red tape and choking them with federal regulations hurts schools. The current obsession with constant testing and assessment tremendously detracts from the mission of developing critical thinkers. Let the teachers teach, let the children learn, and let's renew our commitment to quality public schools with a 21st century curriculum.
Bill
The No Child Left Behind Act, support by President Bush and Rep. Ken Calvert was promoted under the guise of closing achievement gaps between students of different ethnicities, language backgrounds, learning disabilities, and from different socio-economic segments of society. In reality, the aim of this massive legislation seems to be the dismantlement of public schools. The destructive actual agenda is achieved by imposing rigid, unattainable mandates, and when mandated test results fall short for one group or another, the hammer is dropped on local schools and they are declared failures.
All students can learn, however educators-as well as parents-know that not all students learn the same way or at the same pace. NCLB one-size-fits-all mandates not only fail our students, but make a mockery of local community control of schools. Heavy-handed federal control is not what local boards of education need, nor will stigmatizing local schools benefit local communities.
Parents, communities, and local boards of education need to design programs to prepare children to successfully face the challenges of the 21st century. Strangling educators with red tape and choking them with federal regulations hurts schools. The current obsession with constant testing and assessment tremendously detracts from the mission of developing critical thinkers. Let the teachers teach, let the children learn, and let's renew our commitment to quality public schools with a 21st century curriculum.
Bill
posted by Bill Hedrick for Congress at
11:38 PM
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