Hail to the educator in chief

I believe he will offer bold change in foreign and domestic policy and transform the mean spirit of American politics.

[government worker]

NCLB is the absolute worst legislation that has ever been passed. Ask any teacher worth their salt and they will tell you the same. When it first was implemented, we had 4 teachers in our middle school quit! Outright quit because they were mandated by this bill to teach every child regardless of learning disabilities or other impairments. No person is the same. No person learns in the same manner as another. To ask a teacher to present material in a certain manner that all children will learn is ridiculous. First of all, they are not all trained in special ed so to ask a teacher to ensure that all the students in the class comprehend and learn the material regardless of ability is just plain stupid! The ones left behind are our best and brightest students that have to sit through the ritual of repetition. This promotes disruption and possible bad behavior out of shear boredom. This is why we have special education classes. There is nothing wrong with having things taught slower or repeatedly to students who need it. We must recognize this before we can successfully educate all children. As for poor and minority students, resources are there. Throwing more money or busing these students to higher performing schools is not the answer. We have teachers in some of these schools who can't put a coherent sentence together, speak horribly and have no interest except their pay check in teaching these students. Parents need to be involved in the education of their children, teachers MUST be qualified and not graduated because we need minority teachers. President Obama leads by example. He did not get where he is by Affirmative Action. He had parental guidance and worked diligently for his education. That is the example our students need, not more money, ridiculous legislation that dilutes the learning process or teachers that are not qualified.

[Fang Guy]

I don't know how NCLB can be trashed as poor legislation when it has been neither been funded nor implemented correctly.

Let's try it out before rejecting it. And asking teachers about it is absurd, as the primary goal of teachers is to fund teachers, not children.

[government worker]

We are trying it and it has failed. Most teachers I know have gone into education because they WANT to TEACH. Of course of late, there are those that look at it as an easy degree and get jobs when they can neither speak properly or have any clue how to teach. We have a wonderful example in our mayor. I would never want her as my child's teacher. I can't even believe they allowed her in a classroom because she can't pronounce nor use correct english. NCLB will never be funded properly or implemented properly because of the idiots who passed this legislation. No input from educators at all. I'm sorry, but it doesn't and won't work. The old way of having childlren with the same abilities in the same class is what works. Not mainstreaming where everyone looses.

[NoFreeRides]

Convenient how the writer ignored the primary problem that leads to failed schools, FAILED PARENTS.

Until we elect leaders that are willing to address the real issue head on, nothing will change.

[Rocket88]

I agree with the first poster that NCLB could be renamed the "Destroy the Potential of the Best and the Brightest Act" because it is tailor-made to ensure that gifted children are not challenged and emerge from school no better educated than the lowest common denominator.

I am curious as to how elected leaders are supposed to make people be better parents. Re-education camps? Forcible sterilizations?

I have a question for the author of this essay, too. How do we determine "adequate" funding? Some of the worst school systems spend much more per student than some of the best school systems. I am sympathetic to the idea that students coming out of some desperate communities are starting with two strikes against them, and therefore need more support than students coming out of thriving communities, but at the same time, how do you attach a dollar value to that? What is the per-student price differential for having two parents versus having one? For living in a home with crowded bookshelves versus living in a home with nothing but a TV? For walking to school along a safe, tree-lined street, versus stepping over vials and derelicts and hoping to avoid the gangs?

How does money alone fix this? How do elected officials fix this?

[NoFreeRides]

Rocket88 wrote:

I am curious as to how elected leaders are supposed to make people be better parents. Re-education camps? Forcible sterilizations?

That's a great question. I don't necessarily have the answer, but I know for sure that the answer won't be found if they continue to avoid dealing with the reality.

A good start would be elimination of the excuses that politicians make for these failed parents.

A second step would be eliminate the glory some take in having kids out of wedlock and unleash the full force of public scorn against these morons. Never underestimate the power of humiliation.

[FireOrLime]

[quote=government worker]As for poor and minority students, resources are there. Throwing more money or busing these students to higher performing schools is not the answer.[/quote]
Really? Resources are there? I teach at a school in the city that consists of 100% African-American students, the vast majority of whom qualify for free or reduced-price lunch. Every "resource" in my classroom is there only because I shelled out my own money or raised grant money on my own sick time for it. I make 90% of my copies on my own dime at Kinko’s. And beyond that, our water system is poisoned with lead, so students can't drink it. I've heard the CEO of our school district describe the architecture of our school building as "penitentiary-like." I teach in a converted choir room with windows that let snow into the room during the winter, and I have to leave anything perishable on top of an 8-foot bookshelf (that I purchased and assembled myself) because if I don't, mice and cockroaches will get into it.

You're telling me that they have these issues in county schools? Please. The only "resource" we have in abundance at many low-performing urban schools are frustration with the staggering social inequity that people like yourself and a couple of other posters here routinely blame on apathetic parents or greedy schoolteachers.

[quote=NoFreeRides] Convenient how the writer ignored the primary problem that leads to failed schools, FAILED PARENTS.[/quote]
Right. It’s easy to raise kids when you’re working two minimum-wage jobs to support your family as a single parent, or you’re a teenager yourself, or a significant portion of society regards you as a dangerous failure.

[quote=Rocket88] How does money alone fix this? How do elected officials fix this?[/quote]
It doesn’t. But it’s a start. This problem is so big that it won’t be fixed until everybody cares. We can’t simply turn it over to a government agency or shell out a little more cash or hire a few more teachers. This is the crisis of our generation, and we’re allowing it to swell.

[One Party State]

Will the parent's of the poor and minority school children us the Obama's as role models for their children? They are an example of people taking advantage of the opportunities that are available to all US citizens. The parents of these children are the ones that need to step up and make sure that their children succeed. It's not the governments responsibility to the the parent.

[NoFreeRides]

FireOrLime wrote:

Really? Resources are there? I teach at a school in the city that consists of 100% African-American students, the vast majority of whom qualify for free or reduced-price lunch. Every "resource" in my classroom is there only because I shelled out my own money or raised grant money on my own sick time for it. I make 90% of my copies on my own dime at Kinko’s. And beyond that, our water system is poisoned with lead, so students can't drink it. I've heard the CEO of our school district describe the architecture of our school building as "penitentiary-like." I teach in a converted choir room with windows that let snow into the room during the winter, and I have to leave anything perishable on top of an 8-foot bookshelf (that I purchased and assembled myself) because if I don't, mice and cockroaches will get into it.
You're telling me that they have these issues in county schools? Please. The only "resource" we have in abundance at many low-performing urban schools are frustration with the staggering social inequity that people like yourself and a couple of other posters here routinely blame on apathetic parents or greedy schoolteachers.

Yes! The resources are there. City schools are funded at a much higher level than most suburban districts. Your complaint is with North Avenue. They waste much of the money before it ever gets to the classrooms.

FireOrLime wrote:

Right. It’s easy to raise kids when you’re working two minimum-wage jobs to support your family as a single parent, or you’re a teenager yourself, or a significant portion of society regards you as a dangerous failure.

Thanks for proving my point. The first sign of a failed parent is one that has kids that they can't provide for either financially or emotionally.

FireOrLime wrote:

It doesn’t. But it’s a start. This problem is so big that it won’t be fixed until everybody cares. We can’t simply turn it over to a government agency or shell out a little more cash or hire a few more teachers. This is the crisis of our generation, and we’re allowing it to swell.

Where is the accountability for the loads of money that has already been pumped in?

[Gloom and Doom]

That is about all that Barak Obama (Barry Sotero with 3 birth certificates) will be able to provide, hope. Hanging 10 over a possible depression for the nest 2 or 3 years will put a huge crimp in anything he may have wanted to do. At least Al Qaeda doesn't like him. I had my doubts for awhile. Ha! He wouldn't know a terrorist if one lived in his own neighborhood. He BS'd and bought his way to the White House for nothing. Most likely, he will be the last black president as well.

[Rocket88]

FireOrLime: where is the money going, then? Baltimore City spends roughly $10,900 per pupil -- slightly above the state average. Baltimore County only spends $10,300. Anne Arundel County spends just under $10,100. Why aren't their schools pestilential hell-holes?

NoFreeRides: I agree that it's terrible that so many people keep on squeezing out children that they can't care for. But ignoring the children that this irresponsible behavior creates just punishes the victims -- the kids. And leads to an unbroken cycle of irresponsibility, poverty, and despair.

Do you know what is the number one way of reducing the number of children a woman has, and pushing the age of her first pregnancy back, and reducing the likelihood that her children will live below the poverty line?

Education. The more education you have, the less likely you are to get pregnant when you shouldn't.

So the solution to the problem of irresponsible reproductive habits is certainly not ignoring education. It's not punishing children because their parents are irresponsible. To the extent the government can influence these things, its primary tool is to provide good educations to young people.

[NoFreeRides]

Rocket88 wrote:

Education. The more education you have, the less likely you are to get pregnant when you shouldn't.
So the solution to the problem of irresponsible reproductive habits is certainly not ignoring education. It's not punishing children because their parents are irresponsible. To the extent the government can influence these things, its primary tool is to provide good educations to young people.

Please show me where government has demonstrated the ability to "influence these things." I have seen no evidence that government can overcome the failures that occur in the home. In order to learn, you have to be motivated and prepared.

One of the issues is this flawed notion that we can help every kid. We should focus on those that show up motivated and prepared to learn.

I'm an advocate for school choice because I believe it is the best opportunity for the motivated kids to escape the dysfunction that surrounds them.

[Surf52]

Fang Guy wrote:

I don't know how NCLB can be trashed as poor legislation when it has been neither been funded nor implemented correctly.
Let's try it out before rejecting it. And asking teachers about it is absurd, as the primary goal of teachers is to fund teachers, not children.

Education can best be administered at the local level. The higher you go the more out of touch the ideas become. Federal education initiatives have got to be the worst idea this country has ever come up with.

[NoFreeRides]

Surf52 wrote:

<quoted text>
Education can best be administered at the local level. The higher you go the more out of touch the ideas become. Federal education initiatives have got to be the worst idea this country has ever come up with.

Agreed! The home schooling movement shows that committed parents and motivated kids can deliver a well educated child with limited resources.

Without committed parents and motivated kids boat loads of money are wasted.