Children In America

[pappyld04]

I come from a family of teachers, and I've seen firsthand what it's like in schools right now. I don't know where in the country you guys are, but I'm in an urban area and have friends who teach in a suburban area. The teachers are NOT the ones slacking. No Child Left Behind is a crock and a half. EVERY child is left behind because too many bureaucrats are being given free-rein in a system they know nothing about! Ever look at the so-called "educational research" behind NCLB? It's written entirely by a panel of people who are only interested in promoting their own pre-packaged "education" programs - for their own monetary gain!

NCLB does not take into account what we KNOW about child development or learning strategies. Do your kids actually get anything out of their education when they are forced to memorize facts and data? No! They need the time to actually learn to make CONNECTIONS and THINK for themselves! Unfortunately, that sort of knowledge (even though it will do them so much more good than route memorization) cannot be measured on standardized tests. Does no one realize that teachers are PROFESSIONALS and deserve respect as such? Children are not machines to be cranked out of a factory, but no one is giving educators the resources and time they need to actually teach kids what they need to know!

Sadly, it really is all about the money. Just think at how much cash the testing industry drags in. Even when those "results" come back they really don't say anything. Children with disabilities, ELL students, TAG kids and your "average" kids are all lumped in the same boat - the school is given a total score that says nothing about these different skill levels or how they affected the score. So really, we are wasting millions of dollars on an entire industry that steals money from our schools.

As for the free lunch thing someone mentioned, many of the kids my mom teaches qualify for free meals at school. For many, it really is all they get to eat. They dread winter break and summer vacation because they are going HUNGRY. How focused could your children be on a lesson when they're wondering if they'll be fed over the weekend?

As for the whole attitude thing, sure, many kids don't have much respect and don't value education. Don't blame that on teachers and schools... actually, don't blame it on anyone. It doesn't solve the damn problem, it just shifts your focus from addressing the actual problem.

Whew... Sorry that was so long, but this subject really riles me up.

-Em

The apology is unneccessary, that is what this topic is all about. If it was my posts that you spoke of about the teachers I was only stating how unappreciated and undervalued they really are. They really have a rough go of it when they have to follow guidelines that only makes Billary's program look like a great achievement. The children are not the ones being forgotten.

[Jo Savage]

My youngest is really into sport, and reguarly beats the girls and most of the boys of her age and a year older in 800 and 1500m......We pay for her to have private althletics training because the local school cant "afford the time" to help her during Phys Ed to nurture her skills. Instead they insist that all pupils have a balanced routine. In fact she has even been barred from entering school competitions because she is too good! Apparently, the other kids must be allowed to have a chance of winning! Grrrr!

I'm sorry to hear that. It makes me feel so angry to see great kids be constrained by lesser kids. That may sound cold, but I think that everyone should be forced to achieve greatness; to be forced to run that extra mile. How is it helping a child progress if you constantly keep him or her in their comfort zone? They'd never grow. Its like telling smarter/stronger kids that there is something wrong with them to be/do better than everyone else.

[froggystyle1977]

The apology is unneccessary, that is what this topic is all about. If it was my posts that you spoke of about the teachers I was only stating how unappreciated and undervalued they really are. They really have a rough go of it when they have to follow guidelines that only makes Billary's program look like a great achievement. The children are not the ones being forgotten.

NCLB was Bush not the clintons

PRESS RELEASES

Statement of U.S. Secretary of Education Rod Paige Regarding Senate Passage of the No Child Left Behind Act

Senate Passes Historic Legislation with 87-10 Vote

FOR RELEASE:

December 18, 2001 Contact: Lindsey Kozberg

(202) 401-3026

On January 23rd, President Bush sent his No Child Left Behind plan to the Congress with a request for a vigorous bipartisan debate about his proposals to change the culture and performance of America's schools so that no child is left behind in a failing school. Today's decisive and bipartisan action by the Senate is the final statement in what has been a strong and fruitful debate.

I thank Senator Ted Kennedy and Senator Judd Gregg for their dedicated and tireless leadership in the Senate on behalf of America's children. They have delivered President Bush a final bill with strong accountability for results, expanded options for parents of disadvantaged children, increased flexibility and local control for states and school districts, and programs that support teaching methods based upon solid scientific research on what works.

The No Child Left Behind Act offers the U.S. Department of Education a powerful set of tools in our effort to meet the needs of America's neediest students. The bill raises the quality of the education we provide our students and offers that high quality education to every child. We look forward to the hard work of implementing the new reform provisions and ensuring the achievement of all students.

[Jo Savage]

I always though NCLB was a crock.

[Kinky Twinkie]

I wonder what Ted Kennedy was drinking as he wrote the NCLB?

Glenn

[Jennifer1]

Here's what I don't get.

I have never met a person that is on the other side of this argument. I have never met an individual that likes Ted Kennedy.

As far as I can tell, the people pushing these rules, and the zero tolerance rules, and the non-competitive crap are the minority, so why the hell are all of these rules getting implemented?

Where is our backbone? When are we going to stand up and say "enough is enough already!"?

My kids are in Catholic school because they can pick and choose the students. There is no mainstreaming problem children, so my kid with his obsessive quest to forge ahead in his education isn't waiting for the kid with Turret's in the back of the room constantly disrupting the class. There are no autistic children with a propensity for violent outbursts making it impossible to concentrate on learning.

There are 29 kids in my son's first grade class, and when you peek through the window from the hallway, you wouldn't know there were more than 10. They are all already tying their shoes, the average reading level for this group of 6 year olds is 2nd grade, they are ahead of where they should be in math... I could go on and on.

Now, I am not, in any way, shape or form, saying that every kid isn't deserving of an education. I think that they all are. I am not out to offend any segment of the population, but the fact is, kids with special needs need special places. This mainstreaming thing is a huge pile of crap, and it is where the rest of this is coming from.

Teachers aren't equipped to handle these kids, students aren't equipped to handle these kids, and these kids aren't, for the most part, emotionally equipped to handle being mainstreamed. It's about their parents' egos, and it is a grave disservice to all of the children.

Then there are the parents that don't give a crap about their kids, and the school is a convenient babysitter. The first generation of crack babies are hitting the elementary schools full force. These kids are missing quite a bit of their social circuitry. They simply don't have the social skills necessary to successfully function in a "normal" classroom environment. Many of them aren't capable of learning the social skills because the part of the brain that processes it didn't develop properly. They don't have a shot. These are the kids in public school. They aren't the majority, but there are enough of them to severely retard the learning process. A lot of the non compete rules are falling into place so as not to upset these kids that are wired wrong. This is how they are dealing with school shootings and playground violence, by setting kids up to snap. It doesn't make any sense to me, but then again, I think with my head and not with my squishy parts. My heart bleeds for these kids, but in all reality, they need to be dealt with, not coddled to.

My city is a small city. We are a city of 35,000 people. We have a high school drop out rate of - are you ready for this? - 20%. That isn't a typo. I said twenty percent. There has to be a reason for that. Funny how that number coincides with them mainstreaming the alternative high school 3 years ago. Kinda makes you think. They took a relatively successful program for troubled teens, squished it into the regular curriculum and expected these kids to adjust. What they did was set them up for failure, and brought down the entire learning curve for the rest of the students.

I could go on, but jesus christ. I just looked at how much I wrote already and I'm getting typer's cramp!

Sorry about the rant. This struck a nerve. I guess what I'm saying is that we need to grow a backbone and tell Ted Kennedy and all of our local Teds to sit the fuck down and shut the fuck up because they are ruining our children!

As I always say, you have to be cold sometimes in order to appreciate the warm.

[pappyld04]

I can't vouch for validity but this clip is from a news mag that I get. -

[ladylove]

I was recently chatting with a friend of mine.

We discussed the normal things, weather, new music, recipies, and of course, kids.

It seems that children are no longer allowed to use jump ropes, becuase other children can not jump.

Basketball hoops are no longer allowed either, becuase some children are unable to make the baskets.

Score is no longer being kept at little league games, for fear it will harm a childs self esteem if thery lose.

I always thought it was acceptable for some children to be better at something than others,

Thats just the way it goes, a child that is not good in sports may excel at math or science.

And a child that is good at baseball may not be so good in english.

Is this really the right thing to do?

To deny our children the options of learning how to be a good sport?

Is it right for our children to not learn that it is ok to be dissapointed?

What happens when our children get into the real world and start their first job?

The person next to them excels in something they don't and gets the promotion, or the employee of the month award?

What then? how are they supposed to handle the dissapointment of not getting it, and how are they supposed to be a good loser if they never learned as a child?

This may not be a hard lesson to teach if you have multiple children, but I think it would be awfully diffacult if you only have one child.

There is no sibling rivalry, there are no "contests" who can run faster, or longer, who can jump, who can make more baskets, who can pick up the toys the fastest etc.

Schools teach us more than reading and math, they teach us, about sharing, good sportmanship, how to handle disspaointment.

School is where we forge friendships, and learn about others, its where we learn the very basic elements of how to be a good person.

Yes I know that a lot of this is taught at home, but isn't that supposed to be reinforced when the child is at school?

Have the schools finally overstepped their boundries?

Are we raising a nation of pansies?

Yes, we are raising a bunch of weenies! I think most of these sensitivity laws are crap!

What doesn't kill you will make you stronger