| As adolescents, an individual who was not taught to analyze autonomously may do well. As an adult, this same person will struggle to survive in the workforce. While he or she may do well in school, as adults, people learn there is more to life than test taking. Once out in the world, each of us receives the lesson rarely taught in the classroom, or at least one that is not taught as well. Without the habit of hale and hearty intellectual activity, opportunities to expand in life are few. A diploma deficiency can also make daily doings difficult. Service jobs, which require little creative, innovative, and imagintive thought, will be all that is available to one who learned only how to prepare for and take tests.
Accountability, while a noble concept, when calculated with abundant disregard for intellectual curiosity, quells a society's greatest need. The future is found in our youth. Sadly, in recent years we, as a country have counted on tallies to tell us whether our children have learned. In today's schools our young acquire some, selective knowledge. Teens and tots have mastered the methods necessary to improve Math, Science, and reading scores. At least, the little ones have worked to secure these skills.
In classrooms throughout the country, our offspring memorize and mechanically mouth the "facts" our ancestors discovered long ago. Very few are instructed to think beyond what others in the past believed were the boundaries. Unlike ancients who questioned accepted theories such as the Earth is flat, our progeny are trained to consent to a construct that may not be correct. In America, people are so confident that what is currently considered the truth is accurate; we do not encourage our children to explore.
Moms, Dads, mentors, and the policymakers, who tell educators what to teach, confine children to rooms where dictums are delivered. The statements, "Answer the question," "Do not ask why," and "Do not turn the page" dominates the current curriculum. "Silent. Test in progress," is a sign that hangs from many a door in educational institutions. Pupils are told to mark a Scantron™ or bubble the circle in completely. The only query frequently heard in American schools is, "Do you have a number 2 pencil?"
Boredom sets in amongst students whose minds crave creative activity. Disheartened and dejected, millions of potentially scholarly pupils, dropout. Intellectually, emotionally, and physically our offspring have dropped out in droves since No Child Left Behind was introduced in this nation's schools. However, this program is but an extension of a trend put in place by politicians who wish to embrace the popular notion, people must be held responsible. Teachers, learners, and school Administrators need to document the acquisition of knowledge.
In today's society, the focus is more on scores, tallies, totals, than it is on the child. Hence, examinations are used to make high stake decisions. In America, an evaluation administered on any given day in the life of a little one, determines whether a student is an achiever, or ultimately a failure. A child's school career can be crushed hours after he was told his parents would divorce, her father passed, or someone he or she loves is seriously ill.
The statistics show that in the more than seven years that this policy has been law we have seen that a "high-stakes accountability system has a direct impact on the severity of the dropout problem."
The "original" premise behind the No Child Left Behind program or any plan that dictates a child must quash curiosity in favor of existing "factual" documentation is "Schools and students held accountable to these measures [standardized, high-stakes, test-based accountability] will automatically increase educational output." However, in a report titled, "Avoidable Losses: High-Stakes Accountability and the Dropout Crisis," researchers reveal . . .
The reality is far different. The findings of this study show that the accountability system itself is complicit in the very losses it claims to reverse. The losses are avoidable, but not while this accountability system governs schools.
Perhaps, the possibility of better days and an improved instructional methodology is the reason educators have rallied 'round the Republican Convention and rolled out an unprecedented proclamation. America is One Nation Left Behind. A nonprofit alliance "dedicated to increasing the dialogue about the state of public education in the United States" hopes to garner the attention of gadabouts, Convention goers, and government officials.
Strong American Schools or representatives of this organization, also participated in the activities in Denver during the Democratic National Convention. They understand politicians in each Party were, are, and will be responsible for reform, or the lack of change in the nation's curriculum.
While sensitive to the source of the No Child Left Behind program the Grand Old Party President, George W. Bush, seasoned educators and experts in instruction are aware, Democrats also helped to hand down the decree that has destroyed American schools. A bipartisan commitment to calculations over curiosity closed the doors to many an American mind.
That said, perchance, aware of the support for standardized educational plans amongst Republicans, this organization led by Roy Romer, a former Colorado Governor and Superintendent of the Los Angeles County Schools, chose this week to prominently share what they believe must be an essential message in a Presidential election year.
Strong American Schools, the group behind the ED in '08 campaign to boost debate about education in the presidential campaign, has a full-page ad in this morning's St. Paul Pioneer Press that bluntly says, "Our schools are failing."
The ad, in the newspaper's special news section on the Republican National Convention, displays a ranking of national flags showing the United States as 21st in the world in science. (The fine print cites several assessments, including two from the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development.)
"The countries with the best schools attract the best jobs," the ad says. "If jobs move to countries like Finland and South Korea, your child's opportunities dry up. And so does our economy."
Although, most Americans claim the economy is the most important issue, in the first Presidential political debates, not one of the aspirants who wished to sit in the Oval Office mentioned education reform. Those who vied for the presidency did not think it vital to speak of our students, or the American school system. Citizens, perhaps trained to be apathetic, did not voice what must be a deep-seated source of distress if the United States is to grow truly successful children. Curriculums must encourage critical thought.
In the initial televised Democratic and Republican conversations with Americans, there was no mention of what citizens do not wish to consider. In education, America is not number one. This country is ranked at 21. Internationally, in twenty other countries a higher percentage of students graduate from High School. Seventy percent of eight-graders do not read at grade level. Ninety-three percent of Middle School Science instructors are not trained in the discipline they teach. The United States is the only developed nation to have a zero percentage increase in the number of Bachelor's and Master's degrees awarded.
What those who wish to give birth to a strong America believe is, if America is to thrive, as a community, we must act on our awareness. Children must be encouraged to think for themselves. Elders must place education first if this country is to be number one, two, or even three. Indeed, where the United States ranks on a scale is not nearly as significant as what we teach our children.
If this society is to succeed, Americans must embrace education for the Seventh Generation. Each of us must prepare our progeny to be critical, creative, and curious thinkers.
The object of teaching a child is to enable him to get along without a teacher.
~ Elbert Hubbard (1856-1915) American Author, Editor and Printer.
The only person who is educated is the one who has learned how to learn and change.
~ Carl Rogers (January 8, 1902 - February 4, 1987) American Psychologist
Education, properly understood, is that which teaches discernment.
~ Joseph Roux (1725-1793) French Cartographer and Hydrographer
School Supplies and Sources . . .
- Tough Choices in Tough Times. Nation Center on Education and the Economy. 2007
- pdf Tough Choices in Touch Times. Nation Center on Education and the Economy. 2007
- Still a nation at risk. Editorial. The Boston Globe. December 15, 2006
- U.S. Teens Trail Peers Around World on Math-Science Test, By Maria Glod. Washington Post. Wednesday, December 5, 2007; Page A07
- pdf U.S. Teens Trail Peers Around World on Math-Science Test, By Maria Glod. Washington Post. Wednesday, December 5, 2007; Page A07
- Innocenti Report Card. United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) 2002
- U.S. falls in education rank compared to other countries, By Elaine Wu. The Kapio Newspress. October 4, 2005
- Poor Marks For U.S. Education System. CBS News. November 26, 2002
- Average-Wage Earners Fall Behind, New Job Market Makes More Demands but Fewer Promises. By Jonathan Krim and Griff Witte. Washington Post. Friday, December 31, 2004; Page A01
- pdf Average-Wage Earners Fall Behind, New Job Market Makes More Demands but Fewer Promises. By Jonathan Krim and Griff Witte. Washington Post. Friday, December 31, 2004; Page A01
- Study: NCLB's Accountability Requirement Feeds Drop-out Rates, By Joan Oleck. School Library Journal. February 20, 2008 2:00:00 PM
- Avoidable Losses: High-Stakes Accountability and the Dropout Crisis, By Linda McSpadden McNeil, Eileen Coppola, Judy Radigan, Julian Vasquez Heilig. Education Policy Analysis Archives Vol. 16 No. 3. January 31, 2008
- pdf Avoidable Losses: High-Stakes Accountability and the Dropout Crisis, By Linda McSpadden McNeil, Eileen Coppola, Judy Radigan, Julian Vasquez Heilig. Education Policy Analysis Archives Vol. 16 No. 3. January 31, 2008
- ED in '08
- Full Page Advertisement. One Nation Left Behind. Strong American Schools.
- Convention Ad Warns 'One Nation Left Behind', By Mark Walsh. Education Week. September 1, 2008
- Strong American Schools.
- Roy Romer, My "Education" Biography. Roy's Blog.
- Will ED in '08 Live Past '08? By Michele McNeil. Education Week. August 27, 2008
- Appropriate Use of High-Stakes Testing in Our Nation's Schools. American Psychological Association.
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