The No Child Seems To Be Left Behind Act

I think NCLB is just another case of policy that looks good on paper, but is not so great in practice. I think that the intent of the writers was good; to set a goal for having students in the United States to be on grade level by 2014 is great. Are we really being realistic?

I worry that instead of actually improving the quality of education in the United States, we will end up turning our students into test-taking, test-passing robots, who, when put in certain situations, will lack critical thinking skills.

I watched a webcast of Spellings (US Secretary of Education) saying that the NCLB is "99.9% pure" and that no part of the legislation should be revisited. Can she really back that statement up by showing somehow, as a country, that our educational system has improved?

Another issue that was raised is the national shortage of teachers. Am I the only who sees that teachers don't get paid nearly as well as other professions? And in other countries where education is not as bad as the US, how much are those teachers getting paid relative to other professions? Maybe you would attract more people to teaching if they knew they would be able to live better than a pauper.

Just some things to think about.