Senacle: On No Child Left Behind

So I recently got another job in the "educational sector" (as one of my friends calls it) as a teacher assistant at Sylvan Learning Center. The atmosphere is quite different from Howard-students come in fairly quiet, ready to go over their homework for the evening, elated over the B or A they've gotten on a recent test or even excited about the new lessons they'll be introduced to with their teachers. I move around tables of teachers and students without having to worry about being called a "Snitchin' Ass, Baldheaded Bitch" or any other catchy phrases that I've heard from the 9th graders I tutor throughout the week.

After my first day at Sylvan, I wondered what made these students so much different from those I see at Howard and the biggest difference I thought of immediately was that the children that come to Sylvan WANT to be there. It may have been the last resort for them but they truly want to be there and their parents have encouraged them to their best once they walk through our doors.

On several occassions, I've had the What's-Really-Wrong-With-todays-Kids conversation, exchanging the typical sentiments of many:

The problem is and always will be kids having kids!!!Now that is no excuse for
raising unruly children but it starts in the home and with the parents.
The problem only includes kids having kids...people try to blame stuff
everywhere
but where its supposed to be..the problem with kids begins with
the
parents....ther is a serious lack of moral education among kids and
parents, and
especially among blacks...it's a sad cycle.

In the Senacle: On No Child Left Behind post, we Tennesseans are reminded of the farse of an educational act NCLB and its indequacy to truly offer quality education to those attending public schools. NCLB punishes a school, a district, or a state if they fail to make adequate progress according to the goals they themselves establish causing the incentives to be set at lower expectations instead of higher; It also helps to increase segregation by class and race and push low-performing students out of school altogether (And I'm witnessing this at Howard).

Schools, districts, and states are also potentially set to game the system by manipulating which students are included or excluded from test-taking (to enhance apparent school performance) and by creative reclassification of drop-outs (to reduce unfavorable statistics)

States and school districts should be granted greater freedom to target assistance to schools with the most extensive academic difficulties. After-school programs are neglected. NCLB is designed to set the stage for the eventual privatization of the U.S. public school system: reports about struggling schools sour public opinion and may cause more and more voters to question the viability of public education.

It's sad to think that people just don't care about future of education...I cry silently because to moan aloud means to be ignored.