Parents Forum

etceterae · 05-11-2008, 08:57 AM

No Child Left Behind is trying to make all students across the country, in essence, raise their grades. Teachers are being pushed harder and harder to improve our studies so that when the yearly examinations come, our schools will be labeled "Academically Acceptable" or something of the sort.

I am in 10th grade, and am in Pre-IB (which is like Honors or Pre-AP, but is more difficult and has a different English curriculum). As a gifted student (I apologize for my seeming lack of modesty, but I need to present the facts as they are), I have noticed that No Child Left Behind is actually leaving honors students behind, since teachers ditch us and concentrate instead on those who are failing. They believe that we honors students can manage perfectly on our own, whereas sometimes, the complete opposite is true; we are teenagers and still need guidance.

My friends and I have also noticed a dramatic increase in busy/pointless paperwork, as opposed to interactive, "Let's work this out together" lessons. Classes have shifted from teachers teaching us to teachers giving us worksheets and mostly ignoring us for the majority of the time. In fact, the learning philosophy has changed from, "Let's learn" to "Let's pass the test". As you can see, I heavily oppose No Child Left Behind, which I honestly believe had good intentions, but was poorly carried out.

Regulars students, however, have somewhat benefited from the act. Teachers are making more of an effort to reach out to them and make them pay attention, though in my school (which is in one of the best school districts in America), my friends in regulars have not noticed much difference at all. In fact, they complain of having loads of pointless homework that the teacher never actually checks.

What are your opinions on the subject of No Child Left Behind?

musicmom · 05-11-2008, 07:36 PM

I agree 100% with you. I also think more parents are giving up on their children and are expecting the teachers to teach their children all by themselves. If parents were more involved then students may do better.
I agree that the gifted children do get left to do their own work. How much further could you go if you had teachers to work hands on with you? It could be endless.
Great post.

hwnorth · 05-11-2008, 11:14 PM

Im not American, so Im not privy to this, but I am aware. It may not have been carried out to the extent that many would like ... but heres something ....
whats the alternative? What do you, as a student see as a correction?

I think theres a political aspect to this as well, because if you look at it stratigicly, most political decisions need that. So.. If you have a society that has a few gifted... but a higher number of lower IQ's, your going to have people with an overall lower income, therefore a lower tax base. If the table are balanced, your levels of education are going to balance out at a higher level, therefore higher trained, therefore higher tax base .... just food for thought...

musicmom ... I cant agree more re parents handing it over to the teachers and saying "here.. teach my kid" ... get off your lazy asses and become part of your kids life !! good point

evilbrent · 05-12-2008, 12:01 AM

NCLB is evil.

It is the opposite of teaching - it is the opposite of encouraging success - it is the opposite of encouraging free-thought and risk-taking.

Sending primary school kids home with busy-work???? evil evil evil.

If it keeps going like this then people are going to think that the whole point of childhood is education - instead of being the OTHER WAY AROUND.

evilbrent · 05-12-2008, 12:07 AM

it's not just the parents 'leaving the schools to raise their kids'

It's also the parents thinking that this is the best way to learn.
It's parents thinking that a quiet school room has a lot of learning going on.
It's parents thinking that kids doing hours of rote-learning of sums and algebra is the same thing as them learning the concepts and developing the life long love of maths that will lead them to become an engineer or physicist.
It's parents thinking that it's not ok to take your kids out of school once or twice a year to do something TRULY FASCINATING with them.
It's parents thinking that a USEFUL day of 'learning' involves 6 time-limited, regulated chunks of curriculum periods where EVERYONE learns about maths for 47 minutes, then BANG, EVERYONE goes off to learn about geology then BANG, everyone goes off to learn History - as if that were the best way to capture kid's imagination.
It's parents believing that age segregation is an appropriate way to live in the world.
It's parents believing that marks matter more than self-esteem.
It's parents believing that the school knows better than the kid what's going to fascinate them - rather than the school doing everything it can to stay the hell out of the way.

Teresa · 05-12-2008, 04:06 AM

NCLB is a good idea on paper, but in practice it SUCKS....and unless it is completely overhauled, it needs to be removed from the education system entirely. It's not doing anyone any favors from what I can see. Teachers are restricted, at least in our district, to teaching only the material that will be tested on the achievement tests at the end of the year, in an attempt to raise the districts scores to the highest level. Field trips are no longer allowed, unless they relate specifically to a standard that will be tested at the end of the year.

I do think that parents need to get more involved, but I don't think that has anything to do with NCLB....it's just the general mood of apathy in this country.

etceterae · 05-12-2008, 06:01 AM

Actually, field trips ARE allowed. I'm in this freakingfantastic class called Humanities, which completely throws away the rules of NCLB, so students get really good grades and have tons of fun there (it's only for students who get a 96 and above on a cognitive test, though). Each year we walk to the Dallas Museum of Art, play, and take notes. It's incredibly fun and we learn a lot whilst enjoying the lessons.

Teresa · 05-12-2008, 06:03 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by etceterae

Actually, field trips ARE allowed. I'm in this freakingfantastic class called Humanities, which completely throws away the rules of NCLB, so students get really good grades and have tons of fun there (it's only for students who get a 96 and above on a cognitive test, though). Each year we walk to the Dallas Museum of Art, play, and take notes. It's incredibly fun and we learn a lot whilst enjoying the lessons.

Field trips may be allowed at your school, but they aren't in OUR district, which is what I said in my post. They have cut out all field trips UNLESS they relate specifically to a standard that will be tested on the achievement test...so no more trips just for fun at this time of the year like we had when I was in school.

etceterae · 05-12-2008, 05:41 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Teresa

Field trips may be allowed at your school, but they aren't in OUR district, which is what I said in my post. They have cut out all field trips UNLESS they relate specifically to a standard that will be tested on the achievement test...so no more trips just for fun at this time of the year like we had when I was in school.

Gack, I missed that bit. =] That's still rather odd, though, that NCLB can take such different forms in different districts. If one has such a policy, it should be more unifying, or at least more carefully monitored. o.O Either way, that's interesting. Thanks for sharing =]

PennQuaker09 · 05-14-2008, 09:21 PM

Teresa, I completely agree. It's so restrictive. I think the reason why I've had such as easy time so far is because my of my students arehonors level students when the standards and testing really don't come into play all that much. My Algebra class was probably my least favorite class to teach because of all of the testing. Believe it or not, math can be fun, but not with all of the restrictions and what not.

I'm really looking forward to the next Presidential administration to overhaul the NCLB law whether it be McCain, Obama, or Clinton. Of the three, I'm think Obama might be slightly more inclined to fix it. I think Clinton would focus on healthcare more, and I really don't know what McCain would do.

The law came about because a plan similar worked with good results in the Houston, TX, but Bush and company were really stupid to think that it would work on a wide scale basis.

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