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.

IS EVERYBODY ELSE GETTING YOUNGER OR AM I GETTING OLD?

I think I enjoy this blogging thing, except that sometimes it becomes difficult to find something to say. The reason I say that is because I think a lot of things that I wouldn't mind sharing with the world, though I am trying to be as unoffensive and politically correct as possible.

By the way, when did "political correctness" come on to the scene? Who sits around and thinks of these terms? When I was a kid, if you were short, no one called you "vertically challenged, " they called you short.

Don't get me wrong, there is something to be said for being careful when speaking of someone who is different from you. It is called tact. But where do we, as a country, draw the line between politeness and foolishness?

Oh, no...I'm sorry, are my comments too harsh?

I DONT WANT TO GET ON MY SOAP BOX...

Why is so much food fried in the United States? I mean anywhere you go, you can find fried food. Not the case with grilled or baked or broiled. They feed American people the worst food possible and then run around having 20/20 or 60 minutes specials about obesity in America. Get real! What they should do is have an expose' on fast food chains and their conspiracies to keep the American people fat. There. I said it.