Obama’s Big Idea: Since Our Educational Standards Are Too Rigorous, Let‘s Just Scrap ’Em!
- Posted on March 29, 2011 at 9:00am by
Emily Esfahani Smith
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WASHINGTON (AP) — President Barack Obama said Monday that students should take fewer standardized tests and school performance should be measured in other ways than just exam results. Too much testing makes education boring for kids, he said.
“Too often what we have been doing is using these tests to punish students or to, in some cases, punish schools,” the president told students and parents at a town hall hosted by the Univision Spanish-language television network at Bell Multicultural High School in Washington, D.C.
[Watch the president's remarks below. However, his words are hard to understand due to a Spanish overlay. You can read his remarks here, instead.]
Obama, who is pushing a rewrite of the nation’s education law that would ease some of its rigid measurement tools, said policymakers should find a test that “everybody agrees makes sense” and administer it in less pressure-packed atmospheres, potentially every few years instead of annually.
At the same time, Obama said, schools should be judged on criteria other than student test performance, including attendance rate.
“One thing I never want to see happen is schools that are just teaching the test because then you’re not learning about the world, you’re not learning about different cultures, you’re not learning about science, you’re not learning about math,” the president said. “All you‘re learning about is how to fill out a little bubble on an exam and little tricks that you need to do in order to take a test and that’s not going to make education interesting.”
“And young people do well in stuff that they’re interested in,” Obama said. “They‘re not going to do as well if it’s boring.”
The president endorsed the occasional administering of standardized tests to determine a “baseline” of student ability. He said his daughters Sasha, 9, and Malia, 12, recently took a standardized test that didn’t require advance preparation. Instead, he said, it was just used as a tool to diagnose their strengths and weaknesses. The girls attend the private Sidwell Friends School in Washington.
Obama, who has been pushing his education agenda all month, has expressed concern that too many schools will be unable to meet annual proficiency standards under the No Child Left Behind law this year. The standards are aimed at getting 100 percent of students proficient in math, reading and science by 2014, a goal now widely seen as unrealistic.
The Obama administration has proposed replacing those standards with a less prescriptive requirement that by 2020 all students graduating from high school should be ready for college or a career.
Obama wants Congress to send him a rewrite of the 2001 law before the start of a new school year this fall. Although his education secretary, Arne Duncan, has been working hard with lawmakers of both parties, the deadline may be unrealistic with Congress focused on the budget and the economy. Congressional Republicans also look unwilling to sign off on Obama’s plans to increase spending on education.
Latino students make up one in five of all students in prekindergarten through high school in the U.S. but lag far behind whites in educational attainment, with less than one in three graduating from high school, according to federal Education Department figures. Obama emphasized to his largely Hispanic audience the importance of staying in school and he noted that more and more jobs will require advanced degrees.
Obama also made a plug Monday for the use of technology in classrooms, revealing that he himself has an iPad.
He turned back a plea from one questioner to grant a special protected status to students who are in the country illegally in order to prevent them from getting deported. Obama said it wouldn’t be appropriate because that status has traditionally been reserved for immigrants fleeing persecution or disaster.
The president did pledge to keep working to pass the Dream Act, which would give illegal immigrants brought to the U.S. as children a chance to gain legal status if they enroll in college or the military. The legislation passed the House but failed in the Senate in December; it now faces even longer odds in Congress with the House controlled by Republicans.
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Comments (196)
MidWestMom
Posted on March 29, 2011 at 10:26amJust another reason we homeschool – we EXPECT our kids to pass tests. And we expect them to study. They don’t get a “pass” just for getting out of bed.
Report Post »ClarityPlease
Posted on March 29, 2011 at 10:24amLets try something new. For the most part we only see competion between schools for Sports and a few other things. Let’s start a competition for academic excelence for schools that starts locally, goes to state and then nationally. Here’s how it would work. First, partner up 2 schools to compete against each other in all areas and do it every semester. Second, compete on state level. Third on national level. Next award prizes in a 3 tier process. First to the childern, Second to the schools. Third to the States. The prizes for the children could start with trophies, then grants for further education, or even a grant that the child could give to a needy student. The prizes for schools and states could be similar.
The whole idea would be to get students, schools, and states to compete and have pride in each other. You must instill a desire to excel in students and schools to turn around the school systems.
Report Post »mrlogan3
Posted on March 29, 2011 at 11:33amI love this idea. There was a time when I wanted to be a teacher using a competition based teaching style, make the kids want to know the most.
Report Post »lketchum
Posted on March 29, 2011 at 10:23amEl Presidente Obama, the consummate Bovine Scatologist!
Report Post »DevotedDad
Posted on March 29, 2011 at 10:23amThis President is attacking every single aspect of this Country. The problem is that everyone seems to be on board – Republicans, Democrats, Independents, and everyone.
Man, I am at the point that Glenn spoke about – I think it was the Vymar or something to that effect.
Crap..
Report Post »GhostOfJefferson
Posted on March 29, 2011 at 10:44amTaking the Federal government’s claws out of local education is not tearing down this country. Federal Standardized Testing is a failure and is making our kids into utter idiots, and a lot of Conservative teachers will tell you as much if you ask them.
It’s Weimar, by the way.
Report Post »linandsamott
Posted on March 29, 2011 at 10:21amForget the message and explain to me exactly what he is “presenting” on the black board ???
Report Post »lookn4nrml
Posted on March 29, 2011 at 10:20amHis comments are only for us masses. His and the other elites kids all go to privates anyway. Education needs to be small schools, community-based with local control. Federal intrusion was the beginning of the end. Social promotion creates dummies who don’t know they are-’I is entitled.’
Report Post »Diablo4965
Posted on March 29, 2011 at 10:19amGreat now he’s lowering the standards in our schools so blacks appear to be smarter, why doesn‘t he get rid of the teachers that aren’t proforming up to the standards already in place.Oh yes thats right he doesn’t want to upset his union cronies he needs thier money for his re-election bid. This guy is just a f-in jerkoff!
Report Post »mrlogan3
Posted on March 29, 2011 at 11:31amThanks for making it a race issue, give this black guy a chance to brag about his 34 ACT, 2110 SAT, and acceptance to Cornell. Tell me if I need a president to make me look smarter? Highest ACT score in my class, only Ivy League acceptance in my class and one of the highest SATs. So tell me, who needs to look smarter there?
Report Post »lynnissmart
Posted on March 29, 2011 at 10:13amHey the Commie wants us to be just like any 3rd World Country…..he is a disaster to this great nation….I despise his policies period……..I am mostly a calm person, but this admin makes me so so angry!!!!!
Report Post »smithclar3nc3
Posted on March 29, 2011 at 10:18amActually kids in third world country’s try harder than American kids and do better than American kids because they view an education as an opportunity for a better life. American kids are being taught that they are entitled to a better life. NO WORK NEEDED
Report Post »Oh, God!
Posted on March 29, 2011 at 10:12amSo, if my kids have perfect attendance, they should get an A? Forget the fact that they can’t read, write or do math, but they were there everyday, so we need to pass them because they tried. Sounds like what is going on in schools already.
Report Post »chuck_wagon
Posted on March 29, 2011 at 10:11amChinese slaves, that’s where the monkey boy is taking us.
Report Post »smithclar3nc3
Posted on March 29, 2011 at 10:11amAnd we wonder why we are falling behind in education. It because there are low standards already. Why not just give 1st graders their diplomias and say they can use it in 12 years.
Report Post »Obama just showed his true colors again he knows standardized testing shows the poor performance of the unionized teachers.And those test results are being used to justify the abolishment of the unions and the end of tenure. He cares more about teachers unions than students.
It’s time to remove the Federal Government from the indoctrination of the American student.
It’s time to stop the one size fits all public school system which decreases learning by requiring that the brightest move at the pace of the slowest. It’s time to stop looking at education as a right and make a a privilege offer to all that follow the rules and have a desire to learn. And remove those who disrupt and inhibit the learning atmosphere. Perhap offer alternative schools that teach basic education and trades for slowers students. And end grants programs for unqualified student that are only there to keep racial quotas.
mrlogan3
Posted on March 29, 2011 at 11:29am“It’s time to stop the one size fits all public school system which decreases learning by requiring that the brightest move at the pace of the slowest.”
That’s exactly what the president is proposing, if you got over your blind hatred of him you would see that.
Report Post »smithclar3nc3
Posted on March 29, 2011 at 12:08pmWhere the he77 did you read that’s what the President is purposing? You can imply whatever you wish form anything anyone says. A person could find the meaning of life in a chili recipe if they’re so inclined. It doesn’t make it fact.
Report Post »The President is purposing ending the ability to gauge what students have learned from teachers by ending the only way to do so. It is nothing more than an attempt to protect the teachers unions which are now coming under more and more scrutiny as it is now at front of wasteful government spending.
Testing is how you determine not just learned knowledge but also the ability to think for one’s self.
I hold no animosity for President but unlike you I hold no admiration for him either. I view his actions on it’s face value and use his previous statements and actions to form my perception of what I believe to be his agenda. MAYBE YOU SHOULD TRY IT
mrlogan3
Posted on March 29, 2011 at 1:17pmI don’t especially admire him, really have no feeling one way or the other, but what I quoted from you is what he wants. The one size fits all education system is this standardized testing system he’s talking about, it trains, not teaches, all kids to pass an exam. Smarter kids don’t learn more in this system. If you eliminate this testing you expand the curriculum of schools and you can teach a wider range of things. You can include more knowledge and skills for life instead of passing these tests. What he’s proposing here is a very good idea, standardized testing is killing education. Kids graduate knowing nothing because they didn’t learn and apply things on a regular basis; they learned, learned, learned, learned, learned, regurgitated it all onto a standardized test and then forgot it because it wasn’t important.
Report Post »smithclar3nc3
Posted on March 29, 2011 at 2:31pmStandardize testing isn’t the issue,it’s standardize classrooms. It the only school for all people tha‘t’s the issue.
Report Post »The standardized tests are test on the essential components that create a basic fully functional citizen. literacy,mathematics,comprehendsion,basic sciences,and civics. If students can’t grasps that they are not ready for other areas of education. To suggest that they study subjects they like would have a lot of first graders studying pokemon or whatever the current thing happens to be. School is supposely an institution of learning. and to grade on attendance is just a socialist pro union stance pay based on time in and not performance. YOU WANT TO WHY JOHNNY CAN‘T READ BECAUSE HE HAD PERFECT ATTENDANCE AND DIDN’T HAVE TO.
mrlogan3
Posted on March 29, 2011 at 3:08pmIt’s so cute how you end all of your posts in capitals, but back to the point. Standardized classrooms are a result of standardized testing (which is the issue). If students A, B, and C all have to take the same test to pass high school, why would student A learn different things even if he or she is smarter. Teaching interests does not necessarily mean play time all day, but you could integrate age appropriate trends into teaching. If first graders like Pokemon, why not use it as a teaching method. I live in MA and I remember training, not learning, for the MCAS exam. It was dry dull learning. The lessons I enjoyed most were history and geography lessons, which standardized testing did not (maybe still does not) test. One thing I never read in the story, and maybe I missed it, was that grading would be on attendance. The president is not saying “no tests ever,” he’s suggesting that the curriculum of schools should not revolve around one exam as it does. Regular teacher assigned tests and quizzes aren’t under attack here, it’s huge standardized tests. Eliminating these would increase the need for better teachers because they would have to be engaging and really get the kids involved, which does not happen in test training. If Johnny doesn‘t know how to read that’s his own fault for never learning.
Report Post »smithclar3nc3
Posted on March 31, 2011 at 9:19amStandardized classroom are the results of public education not testing of the students in public education. It‘s the one size fits all education and don’t dare single out poor performing students and move them slower learning classrooms. Because you’ll end up with classes broke down racially in a lot of areas. No it’s better to make the class rooms move at the pace of the slowest student than to end up with school segragated from within.
Report Post »And standardized testing has always included history and geography at least it has in my state. The bottom line is standard testing is tell testing of the basic skill a person needs to become a fully functional citizen of the Republic or of any other country as that matters. And a large percentage of American students are failing. Changing the subjects,putting more money into eduction,changing the grading curve,or the way in which a student is tested isn’t going to help. It’s bandades on gunshots,it pouring gas in a wrecked car,it putting the cart before the horse,and it’s enabling bad behavior. The answer is remove education as a right and making it a privilege that all can recieve if they follow the rules and apply themselfs. The answer is in seperating the wheat from the shaft early on and establishing different schools for different students. The answer lie in removing students who are disruptives,violent,and thuggish from the system entirely. Making examples of them to other students. Using those couple of suggestions right there could revert the 40 years of damage done by progressives in less than a decade. Self responsibility,accountability,and discipline The answer doesn’t lie in grading on attendance as Obama suggested.
Big Texan
Posted on March 29, 2011 at 10:10amSo , let me see if I have this correct , they want to dumb down our national educational system even further than they already have so that our kids , I have 3 in 2nd – 8th grade , can fall even further behind their counterparts in China and India than they already are. I guess an under educated mind is a lot easier to manipulate and let‘s not forget the DOE ’s motto – “ A mind is a terrible thing ” .
Report Post »mrlogan3
Posted on March 29, 2011 at 11:25amYou missed the point. It’s not about trying to dumb down kids and make them “fall even further behind” India and China. It’s actually teaching knowledge and skills for life and not training kids to perform on standardized testing. Also, I used quotes on the falling behind statement because a comparison of literacy rates clearly shows that the U.S. (99%) is way ahead of both India (66%) and China (93.6%).
Report Post »Eblaze44
Posted on March 29, 2011 at 10:10amAll he has to do is keep giving the teachers unions more and more money. don’t worry – they can just hire baby sitters for twelve years. As long as our education system is nothing but social engineering and indoctrination – the US kids will continue to sink below the world. But then if we just cut out the tests – no one will know that we rank lower than most every other modern civilized country.
Report Post »matt708
Posted on March 29, 2011 at 10:08amhow about getting rid of the bad teachers, having the parents more involved and getting rid if government involvment in the education system, let the states handle their own
Report Post »MinorityRightsAdvocate
Posted on March 29, 2011 at 10:06amNo surprise, the Progressive needs an ignorant population which they can control. This is the real reason our government schools fail, they are meant to pump out people with high self esteem and low knowledge – a dangerous combination for a free society, but a perfect combination for those who wish control and manipulate others.
http://minorityrightsadvocate.wordpress.com/2011/02/17/save-your-children-the-progressive-aims-to-convert-them-and-turn-them-against-you-in-pursuit-of-their-agenda/
Report Post »GhostOfJefferson
Posted on March 29, 2011 at 10:37amHave you any idea what Standardized Testing is and where it comes from (hint; Federal and state governments)? He’s not calling for eliminating *tests*, rather, Standardized Testing which was, until this article, pretty much anathema to Conservatives. Standardized Testing is the reason that you encounter so many utterly clueless 18 year olds behind registers these days, who cannot make change for a dollar and whose vocabulary skills are challenged.
Report Post »ImahaIngttta
Posted on March 29, 2011 at 10:05amThe are already tests: The SAT & ACT. Those communities that can field a well educated student body,, that has gone through K-12 in that community, and exceeds on those tests should be exempt from federal and state intervention. Including forced testing. Period.
Report Post »ilovetheusa1
Posted on March 29, 2011 at 10:05amjust because he is so effen stupid doesn’t mean he should bring everyone down to his level.
Report Post »wasnt me
Posted on March 29, 2011 at 10:04amIts just another way for the progressives to keep the little guy down, the dumber they are the more they can be controlled and reliant on the government. It’s sooo obvious.
Report Post »Hephzibah
Posted on March 29, 2011 at 12:46pmExactly. Destroy what little is left of the education system and in a few years they’ll ALL be leftist voters!
Report Post »MySacredHonor
Posted on March 29, 2011 at 10:00amWould someone please tell this guy to call Vanna White and by a vowel…. or a clue or a brain…
everything he is saying he doesn’t want to ever see is exactly what is happening in school.. and he wants to LOWER THE STANDARDS even further????
OMG!! school children to day are not educated they are indoctrinated, no one is taught how to think, they are all taught what to think.. and we wonder why our ability to innovate is withering.
If we would teach kids How to think logically and well it would solve SOOO many problems we have now.. but instead they are taught by rote, and to never question experts…
Am i the only one who has noticed all the “Experts” are forever Surprised, or Shocked, or Mystified, or confused, or .. pick your own word for WRONG… it will probably fit….
Why do we even listen to “Experts” anymore.. they are all IDIOTS! teach people HOW TO THINK… and the problems will solve themselves… cause anyone who knows how to think can never be a progressive unless they are really and truly evil in their heart.
Report Post »JP4JOY
Posted on March 29, 2011 at 9:56amGetting rid of the Department of Education would be a great step forward. States should have the autonomy to run their own school districts without Fed interference. Just stupid to take money from the states then send it back (minus some) with strings attached.
Report Post »OhSuzieQ
Posted on March 29, 2011 at 9:55amIn two words…BS!
Report Post »Gonzo
Posted on March 29, 2011 at 9:54am“school performance should be measured in other ways” Let’s measure them by height, that way basketball players will be the best students. Maybe by weight, no more pesky entrance exams and Harvard can finaly field a reall football team?
Report Post »mrsmileyface
Posted on March 29, 2011 at 9:52amOMG that whole testing thing is sooooooooooo hard! I say lets just give all non-white children and adolesents the answers. Its the fair thing to do because most tests arent printed in Ebonics or Hispanic slang. THEY ARE RACIST in the extreme.
Report Post »sWampy
Posted on March 29, 2011 at 10:21amWe already to this pretty much through social promotion, and programs that make the lowest score that can be given on any test is somewhere between 40 and 60. Medical schools give minority students access to tests prior to the actual exams so they can overcome the huge disadvantage of not being white.
Report Post »GhostOfJefferson
Posted on March 29, 2011 at 10:35amIt’s not “testing thing”, it’s state and federal standardized testing. Do you understand that schools should be under local control and not subject to the Federal government dictating curriculum and standards? Since at least the late 1990s, early 21st century teachers have been forced to teach to the test, as they call it and neglect other areas of education. Students are not learning how to learn and they’re not learning basics that you and I took for granted back in the day; rather, they’re learning how to fill out a Federal test that, if they fail, will keep them held back in school.
Conservatives were always against these kinds of Federally (and State) imposed standardized tests as I recall. Until this article.
Sometimes even a stopped clock is right. When it is, there’s no need to find ways to disagree with the time.
Report Post »mrlogan3
Posted on March 29, 2011 at 11:19amAt least this post wasn’t racist. Oh wait…
Report Post »starman70
Posted on March 29, 2011 at 9:51amThat’s how Obama and Biden weree able to pass school – - – NO STANDARDS!
Report Post »JD Carp
Posted on March 29, 2011 at 1:04pmNo! This is a great idea. If we cut the program’s effectiveness then we can cut the budget to the bone too! The first good idea Obama has ever had. Go Barack!
Report Post »rdk
Posted on March 29, 2011 at 9:50amLets do the correct thing. Abolish the Federal Department of Education. Keep the muddlers and fuzzy thinkers and big spenders away from our kids.
Report Post »Beckofile
Posted on March 29, 2011 at 9:56amWhy fix the Monopoly? We could just let the states or the people control how their communities want to deliver services…..Wow great idea a little more then 200 years old. LIMITED GOVERNMENT!
Report Post »Marylou7
Posted on March 29, 2011 at 10:00amThat sounds like a real plan RDK.
Report Post »Do away with standards………..I didn’t know there are any. You mean our kids got that dam_ dumb with standards???
grandmaof5
Posted on March 29, 2011 at 10:03amSomeone needs to give Obama a psych evaluation. I think he has lost what little mind he had (the rest was bought and paid for). Why go to school at all? We can just teach them to catch flys, read a teleprompter, and play basketball or golf – that worked for Obama.
Report Post »gramma b
Posted on March 29, 2011 at 10:04amJust because he’s never actually had to work — just show up — he thinks that’s the ticket for everyone. Good grief. Why did the Western world become prosperous? Standards, achievement and merit. Obama has the Third World viewpoint — that standards don’t matter, or that they’re “unfair.” But that’s why the Third World is the Third World.
13th Imam
Posted on March 29, 2011 at 10:07am“And young people do well in things they are interested in ” , Guess we should change the curriculum to include, classes in A. Rap Music and it’s influence on high school attendance rates, B. Muslim Radicals Among Us? , Right Wing Fact or Fallacy C. Sexting, The new way to meet the men of your Dreams D. STD Tests, Do students fail them when bored ??
Report Post »Revere1
Posted on March 29, 2011 at 10:11amYou’re correct, what have the Feds actually contributed? Schools are failing all over, and Obama’s idea of scrapping standards is typical: http://www.battlefield315.com/2011/02/teachers-unions-explained.html They don’t want to evaluate why the system is failing, just deny it’s failing.
Report Post »Blackhawk1
Posted on March 29, 2011 at 10:13amI guess when you remove standards then no one will fail and Obama will finally look like he did something…..reduced school failure rates.
Report Post »sWampy
Posted on March 29, 2011 at 10:18amNot good enough, we need to abolish all public education period, if you want to teach kids as some big benefit to society crap, give each parent $x, xxx per year that must be spent on education, and let private enterprises provide the education services.
Report Post »GhostOfJefferson
Posted on March 29, 2011 at 10:21amI actually agree with Obama on this. Standardized tests (aka Federal/State standardized tests) are a horror and have caused teachers to “teach for the test” while neglecting pretty much everything else that should constitute a well rounded education.
Report Post »Rogue
Posted on March 29, 2011 at 10:22amLook, they didn’t have tests, chalkboards, desks, or even writing paper in Kenya, and he still ended up being POTUS! He may have a point. Just make all homework in the style of a bracket, and we’ll be fine.
Report Post »GODSAMERICA
Posted on March 29, 2011 at 10:28amWell if he is so set on getting rid of anything that is boring. We are all extremely bored with obama so why doesn’t he remove himself and go away so we never have to hear of/from him ever again.
Report Post »Lost in the Flyover
Posted on March 29, 2011 at 10:28amWTF? Why is the president of the United states using a translator to talk to US students about education in America?????? Y los pobrecitos no les gustan los examenes… Haha up is down and down is up!
Report Post »NC1
Posted on March 29, 2011 at 10:40amAgreed. Let the states handle the public education.
Report Post »drbage
Posted on March 29, 2011 at 10:53amMuddled and addled seem to be the trademarks of this regime. One lecture details how important it is to make the education system the best in the world, the next abolish all standards because it is too hard to succeed. We have photo op after photo op of groups of athletes with O, yet have we ever seen a photo op with scholars? The unionistas fight tooth and nail against raising standards and holding teachers to a higher standard. The President, himself, fights against school vouchers, yet sends his children to one of the most expensive and exclusive schools in the country. His comrade-in-arms, Bill Ayers, was really shocked by the blow back he got recently in New Jersey when he advocated for the elimination of charter and private schools based on his interpretation of “poor” results.
Report Post »cycloid
Posted on March 29, 2011 at 10:54amLeisure Suit Barry recognizes that schoolchildren and their teachers need more vacation time. Just like he, Big Mooch and the Moochettes.
Report Post »lovenfl3
Posted on March 29, 2011 at 11:07amThe fact that they can’t meet the standards should prove something. The answer is not to get rid of the standards. That’s like when the head of the Teachers Union said we should just let the unions police themselves. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=619wI12Ky20
Report Post »abc
Posted on March 29, 2011 at 11:20amThose fuzzy thinkers are often their parents, sadly.
Another slanted account from the Blaze. Here is the background missing from this piece:
1. Obama is responding to a failed No Child Left Behind Policy, passed by Bush and Kennedy
2. NCLB has failed since it causes schools to kick failing students out to make the required pass rates; those students end up on welfare or in jail
3. NCLB has also failed since it causes teachers to teach to the test rather than teach in a way that makes the students absorb the material
4. repeated studies of human psychology and neurology show that kids are much more likely to drop out of school or otherwise fail if they cannot connect to teachers, yet the NCLB test-centric focus has been found to reduce those student-teacher connections
5. Obama has not called for a “scrapping” of standards, but a change in the means of reaching them, which means that you need to incorporate attendance and other indicators alongside the test measurements–which reflects the two key weaknesses of NCLB
It would be refreshing to see the Blaze actually address the issues rather than use them to repeatedly attack Obama on every single issue. The idea that the President is “scrapping” standards whille the existing system is doing something worse (scrapping students) is a gross mischaracterization of what is going on here.
Report Post »Anti_Spock
Posted on March 29, 2011 at 11:24amAhhh the brilliance of Obama.. “All you‘re learning about is how to fill out a little bubble on an exam and little tricks that you need to do in order to take a test and that’s not going to make education interesting.”
Little bubbles? Try Scantrons that test for KNOWLEDGE. Little tricks? Isn’t that cheating?
Obama = Idiot
Report Post »ablisterin
Posted on March 29, 2011 at 11:34amYeah, lets teach them something exciting like communism, socialism, youthful revolution, how to destroy your neighbors property, why youth should not listen to their parents because they’re hate mongers, why you should have more sex at younger age, the govt. will protect you from all the consequences of your misguided judgment by providing abortions, condoms, and STD meds and free $$$. That’s the exciting stuff that our kids should be learning. Ain’t that right, Obama???
Report Post »GhostOfJefferson
Posted on March 29, 2011 at 11:40am@abc
We are in full unfettered agreement on this issue.
What strikes me as particularly odd is that most hardcore Conservatives/Right individuals I’ve met in real life and on most internet boards absolutely *loathe* “No Child Left Behind” and Standardized Testing. People need to pay closer attention to what’s being said and how its being stated, and get out of the mindset of groupthink. No political ideology is immune from it, and Blazers would do well to consider everything in an article with more attention to detail before rushing to join the “cool kids” in slamming this, that or the other thing Obama says.
I dislike the man intensely, but this idea is a great one. Federal standardized testing and NCLB was a terrible intrusion on local schools and needs to be abolished.
Report Post »ConstitutionalPatriot
Posted on March 29, 2011 at 11:50amOf Course Obama doesn‘t like test’s. Oh Wait he thought they were talking about citizenship tests… Never mind!!! (using the voice of Rosanna Rosanna Danna)
Report Post »MrBigBillyB
Posted on March 29, 2011 at 12:12pmABC & Ghost,
I can see where you are coming from, but the reasoning behind NCLB is completely sound. The idea that schools were being given taxpayer dollars and not being held accountable for results is what the program was designed to solve. Now, is “teaching to the test” the best way to solve the issue? No. But then again, just passing kids along without testing at all is no solution either. Teachers just teaching to the test is just them shortcutting the process in my opinion.
If all it took was these teachers methods of keeping the students interested in the process and the education, then wouldn’t it naturally follow that the kids would be able to pass the standards expected of them if the teachers followed those methods? By saying NCLB failed, are you saying students passing rates actually decreased? Because, if I remember correctly, students getting out of High School barely being able to read was the REASON NCLB was enacted. If standardized tests were the problem, why were so many students inadequately educated BEFORE this process? Weren’t the teachers using this magical method before? If not what was the excuse?
If it is expected that a 4th grader be able to read at a certain lever, shouldn’t they be able to do that on a standardized test without teaching to the test? The government isn’t mandating methods, just mandating results. And since it‘s the government’s money, they have a say in it.
Thus, if the states stop accepting Federal money then the government has less say in the standards. If the states stop accepting Federal money then there is no need for the Dept. of Education. Thus saving taxpayers millions of dollars. I am 100% against Federal spending on something that should be done on a local level. (Even some states get this wrong with their “Robin Hood” funding of school districts.) But the point of the NCLB program was to quit just throwing money at a problem with no expectation of results.
Report Post ».
BLAKNCONSERVATIVE
Posted on March 29, 2011 at 12:15pmYa know…as much of a hardtime as we gave bush for “not being that sharp”.. He wouldnt have needed a translator here…just sayin…
Report Post »waggie
Posted on March 29, 2011 at 12:53pmThey are teaching our kids that everyone is right, there are no wrong answers. Let’s make it easy for everyone to pass! Our schools aren’t tough enough as it is! Also, I love the “culture” comment he makes. Shouldn‘t surprise me seeing as it’s Obama, but it disturbs me nonetheless. God help us.
Report Post »copper
Posted on March 29, 2011 at 1:10pmHe laments the failure that government schools are ..and they are failing because of the flunky union teachers that are more interested in producing politically correct attitudes rather than students armed with real KNOWLEDGE.
Home schooled students on AVERAGE rank at the 80th percentile! Plus they actually have more mature behavior, simply because they are dealing with adults who act mature rather than other people’s undisciplined brats.
Public schools were pushed by progressives like Dewy because he wanted to have them look to their peers for their values rather than the Judeo-Christian values of their parents. The agenda of the left was to make the values and principles of the Founders to be seen as backward, ignorant, and repressive. They wanted to enlighten and free young minds which is hog wash – they have simply been pounding into their heads that good is evil and evil is good. They have used Hollywood and music to indoctrinate. Think – when the 1st Harry Potter came out it wasn’t too bad. But the series got darker and more evil with each successive book/movie. They hook you and then make the almost imperceptible slide into gutter. Hopefully there is someone to wake you up.
Report Post »wildjoker5
Posted on March 29, 2011 at 1:37pmLets get rid of standardize tests, those evil (racist) things cause too much biased. Lets lower standards so more minorities can pass too. We need an “even” number of people who pass high school. Shoot, you go to school one day, at least you tried, you get a diploma too.
Report Post »abc
Posted on March 29, 2011 at 1:38pmCopper, your history of the US education is rather muddled. The declines in education occurred well after Dewey was dead and gone. The US led the world as late as the 70s.
The decline coincided, not with some anti-religious agenda of the left (most of whom believe in God just like you do), but because of key changes:
1. elimination of barriers to women in the work force led to really smart people who were teaching our kids even though they should have been running companies suddenly getting more “challenging” and remunerative jobs outside of schools; hence, the quality of teachers declined
2. rise of two income families, which meant that the amount of time devoted by parents to education fell since the mother wasn’t home to help school the child. Note that the home-schooled kids enjoy a luxury that most Americans can no longer afford, but which was common in the 1950′s: mother was smart and stayed home and educated her kids when they were home
3. rising criminality, gangs and drugs since the 70s have no doubt damaged schools, who have to worry about kids being shot in the neighborhood or even in the classroom. This level of gun violence and drugs was not common in the 50s or even 60s
4. growing inflexibility of the teachers’ unions, which had won the right of tenure after only two years, but increasingly had members who were not very good teachers
5. growth of private and charter schools, which provide wealthy people and influential people, including the leaders who should be solving this problem, to avoid public schools entirely. Like inner cities, failing schools are easy to overlook when you have growing options to avoid them entirely
I could go on but you get the idea. There are many reasons for this complex problem, and they do not all correspond to the narrow partisan narrative promulgated here.
Report Post »CultureWarriors
Posted on March 29, 2011 at 2:04pmrdk – right on. The Dept of Ed’s record is unimaginably bad. If an individual had a performance record like that, they would be fired. Unless of course they belonged to a union, then that person would continue to be a parasitic drain on either the company or government forever.
This is just more liberal cowardice of facing the real problem, accountability. The liberals have a raised a generation of unaccountable nit wits. Maybe it would easier to just not let liberals be in charge of anything. Let the adults handle things for a generation. The liberals have had their chance and they are an epic failure.
Report Post »thegrassroots
Posted on March 29, 2011 at 2:22pmAin’t thet jest briliunce at its bestest! Instead of encouraging America’s children to aspire to greatness, he’s wanting to dumb it all down.
Report Post »RJO
Posted on March 29, 2011 at 2:26pmParental Choice in Education!!! Break the monopoly!!!
Report Post »MrBigBillyB
Posted on March 29, 2011 at 2:30pmABC,
Thanks for the thoughtful response. You definitely bring up interesting points. I don’t wholeheartedly disagree with a lot of what you are saying, but I do have different opinions as to where the solution lies.
“Holding children’s attention has become very difficult, for a variety of reasons. The more challenged the neighborhood from which they come, the more difficult the task.”
So, how does eliminating standardized tests make it easier to hold a student’s attention? There needs to be some means to measure how well a teacher actually does at this. Simply saying “we are only going to measure progress every couple of years” does not eliminate the problem of holding a student’s attention and solve the environmental problems associated with this, it only eliminates the accountability.
“The main problem is that schools are throwing students out to make the test pass rates. We end up with “succeeding” schools that kick out large numbers of students, who are then worse off than before the legislation was passed.”
To me this is a fault with the teachers and school districts, not the fault of demanding results. It is definitely an issue of circumventing the problem. Instead of working with the kids to help them achieve, they are kicking them out to skew their statistics. But the idea of continuing to throw money at failure is not appealing either. That was the system we had for 20 years before NCLB was enacted and the kids were still uneducated and were just being moved on through the system.
“So here is the dirty little secret that no politician will tell us: it’s the parents fault. ”
I wholeheartedly agree. It is the parents fault. I believe the parents should be involved early and often. I think the greatest evidence of this is that of the children who have been home schooled. The fact that a public school cannot possibly provide the same student/teacher ratio that a home-schooled student receives shows that the more personal attention that a child receives, the better the success rate. Unfortunately too many parents have turned their responsibility over to the state or to TV. So absolutely it is the parents fault.
“Tests are not a teaching device in an of themselves. Teaching to the test is not remotely the best way to produce a child capable of acing that test. ”
I agree. But the argument is not that there should be testing so that teachers can teach to the test. My argument is that there should be testing to measure the results of the teacher’s/school’s methods. The teachers and districts are doing the disservice by teaching to the test, and not other methods.
“I disagree. The best schools (before college) in the world are located in Taiwan, Korea, Finland, Germany, Japan, among others.”
Do you think that it’s the centralized schools that are the determining factor, or are there societal differences that are a larger key to their success. (Since I don’t have any statistics to know for sure the following questions are not rhetorical, I honestly want to know.) What percentages of these societies have dual income vs. stay at home parents? You said that them more involved a parent is, the better able to succeed a child is. So my unscientific thought is that all the societies mentioned above have a low percentage of both parents working. What percentage of these societies have single parent households? What percentage are considered low-income/“more challenged” neighborhoods? I know every society has poverty, etc, but I just wonder if there is a difference in percentages or difference in success rates. Also keep in mind the societal differences. Japan, Finland, and Korea for example are not bringing 50 million immigrants and then saying ‘don‘t worry about learning our language we’ll cater to you.’ As far as I know, they don’t have “Spanish as a first language” courses. The expectation is to learn the national language, or, if attending an international school, English. So the challenges are different.
“Now, the US 30 years ago had the best schools in the world and were decentralized, and there is much economic theory to support the notion that decentralized schools should perform better. ”
Absolutely. 30 years ago, there was nothing/very little wrong with decentralized schools. Let’s take a look at what might have changed 30 years ago. To put it into round numbers we are talking about 1980, correct? Can you think of anything that happened around that time that might have caused a decline in our educational system? That’s right, the Department of Education was established on October 17, 1979. Interesting. Over the last 30 years, we have also had an increase in the number of dual income homes where the parents are not involved. That‘s what’s bringing the scores down, not the fact that the government is asking for proof of a return on their investment.
Report Post »RJO
Posted on March 29, 2011 at 2:33pmMy oh my…..“ABC” has lots of time to troll The Blaze and show us “the light”….“the errors of our ways”…. My guess…“ABC” is a government worker. Or better yet…..“ABC” is on the payroll of Media Matters/aka Georgie Porgie as they out to “get” those who dare question!!!
When you see comments (nauseous in length and shallowness)….consider the “source.” Then advance past the drool.
Report Post »Whirling Dervish
Posted on March 29, 2011 at 2:45pmLiberals mindset; When the going gets tough, just lower the bar.
Empirical data; DOE and teachers unions look really bad on paper.
Solution: abolish all testing in schools (excuse; tests are no fun anyway), hopefully it would make the department of education and the teacher’s union look better
….Problem solved; two birds one stone..
Report Post »t00nces2
Posted on March 29, 2011 at 2:53pmAmazing! Clinton was the first black president, Obama must be the first spanish one.
Report Post »abc
Posted on March 29, 2011 at 4:03pmMr. Big, thanks for your response. Apparently, my prior post was not viewed as “thoughtful” as you put it by the Blaze, since they took it down. It happens a lot here. It is strange. I am not a troll, but a thoughtful citizen interested in debating folks with different points of view. Sadly, Glenn Beck, the Blaze and his fans do not like to hear opposing viewpoints since they often take them down. They cannot handle reality when it conflicts with the fantastic narrative they keep feeding their rapt audience of like-minded folks. This is bad for everyone, except maybe Beck, who cashes in on the loyal fanbase. But thanks for the discussion. Hopefully, there are more people of differing ideologies that can come together and solve the problem, rather than simply complaining about it in an effort to exploit it to boost ratings or political careers. I keep reminding myself that, while the Blaze is a joke when it censors, many of its visitors are open and thoughtful.
Report Post »butler180
Posted on March 29, 2011 at 4:30pmSounds like a plan to bail out the teachers who are to stupid to teach our kids.
Report Post »abc
Posted on March 29, 2011 at 5:05pmMr. Big, you are showing confirmation bias in your last post. Many conservatives don’t like bilingual programs from an ideological point of view. They tend to want everyone to assimilate and look like them, so they demand English only. That is a gut reaction more than anything else, and then they go look for reasons ex-post to justify it. You are doing that here. You claim (implicitly) that adding spanish to the curriculus is hurting children’s learning of English, but this is not the case. You venture that countries like Finland or Korea do not have bilingual programs to teach Spanish that are hindering their programs, while it hinders ours. But this kind of reasoning is bogus. Here is the reality: every other country in the world starts teaching English to their kids very early, like in second grade. And in Finland, they graduate from high school having learned 5 languages. Luxemburg, a super rich tiny state in Europe with an outstanding public school system, teaches in French and German (both somewhat foreign to people who natively speak Letzeburgish) simultaneously. None of this slows them down. Yet to fit things into the skewed conservative narrative, you have to manufacture theories that run contrary to the facts. Teaching Spanish as a second language is not a hindrance to competing against other countries. They’ve been doing it for years. Only the US looks foolish claiming that we are falling behind because of a bilingual program. I really wish conservatives would set the ideology and narrative aside for a moment and just take in the facts, regardless of where they might lead. You really cannot grasp reality when you refuse to confront facts that are contrary to your narrative.
Report Post »RJO
Posted on March 29, 2011 at 5:50pmabc
Posted on March 29, 2011 at 4:03pm
“Mr. Big, thanks for your response. Apparently, my prior post was not viewed as “thoughtful” as you put it by the Blaze, since they took it down. It happens a lot here. It is strange. I am not a troll, but a thoughtful citizen interested in debating folks with different points of view. Sadly, Glenn Beck, the Blaze and his fans do not like to hear opposing viewpoints since they often take them down. They cannot handle reality when it conflicts with the fantastic narrative they keep feeding their rapt audience of like-minded folks. This is bad for everyone, except maybe Beck, who cashes in on the loyal fanbase. But thanks for the discussion. Hopefully, there are more people of differing ideologies that can come together and solve the problem, rather than simply complaining about it in an effort to exploit it to boost ratings or political careers. I keep reminding myself that, while the Blaze is a joke when it censors, many of its visitors are open and thoughtful.”
Let’s review boys and girls…
ABC is one of the “enlightened”…if you don’t buy that point…just ask ABC.
You are a troll….ABC prints are all over the website, a site described by ABC as “a joke.” Really? Hmmmm. ABC obviously takes what is said about him/her and is routinely “countered” in a very “serious” and self-described “thoughtful” way, to the point of disdain for those who are not as “enlightened.”
ABC’s elitist attitude reeks of what we have put up with for 2-plus years.
But then again ABC has examined all that is said and has shared his “expertise” on who can and who can’t handle “reality.” Pompous twit.
Report Post »abc
Posted on March 29, 2011 at 5:57pmRJO, Care to actually refute the substance of what I wrote? Or are you going to take the low road and just hurl ad hominem arguments? Put up or shut up. You guys complain about liberals who spew emotion and false facts, but then when someone presents actual facts, you act like the very liberal whiners you hate so much. How about instead of drawing lines between right and left, we draw them between informed and smart versus ignorant and stupid? That would be a more productive way to organize debate. It would also separate the men from the boys amongst you conservatives. When you’re ready for that, RJO, you just let me know…
Report Post »RJO
Posted on March 29, 2011 at 5:59pm……one additional point. Classic gibberish from the hard left when “openness” is used to describe those who either waffle or have no clue on the “reality” mentioned by Mr. Elite. For individuals who adore themselves as ABC, “openness” is a one way street….where conservatives can be “brought back to the light of Progressive enlightenment.”
This is similar to the political “openness” found at many of our nations colleges and university’s….where those who espouse “openness” are the first to slam the door on “un-enlightened” thought or behavior. Self-serving partisan who is working his/her little fingers off to help the rest of us in discussion.
Right……
Report Post »abc
Posted on March 29, 2011 at 6:04pmAgain, RJO, when you are ready to marshall facts and logic to establish that you know what reality is, then we’ll talk. Until then, the facts are these:
1. Obama is hardly scrapping educational standards here, but addressing two key problems with No Child Left Behind
2. My observation of this, which was assented to by at least two conservatives who blog here, was rudely removed from the site by the Blaze, which has a history of removing factually accurate statements that conflict with the conservative narrative (fantasy over reality)
3. You have not offered any facts but just opinions and unsupported assertions about me, liberals and terms like open. This is your right, but it hardly engenders any confidence in your ability to reason logically and cite evidence intelligently
But when you are ready to act like a grown up, I’ll be here…provided the Blaze can quash its nasty habit of censoring ideas that are based on empirical evidence but which they’d prefer you overlook.
Report Post »RJO
Posted on March 29, 2011 at 6:07pm@
abc
Posted on March 29, 2011 at 5:57pm
“RJO, Care to actually refute the substance of what I wrote? Or are you going to take the low road and just hurl ad hominem arguments? Put up or shut up. You guys complain about liberals who spew emotion and false facts, but then when someone presents actual facts, you act like the very liberal whiners you hate so much. How about instead of drawing lines between right and left, we draw them between informed and smart versus ignorant and stupid? That would be a more productive way to organize debate. It would also separate the men from the boys amongst you conservatives. When you’re ready for that, RJO, you just let me know…”
Oooooh, a challenge from the pompous left. Let you know? Ready for that?
Ooooooh….yes Daddy.
This condescending/ self-righteous bull is all too familiar. Talking “down” in a chastising tone to the un-enlightened is one of the many character flaws of lefties like ABC.
Nice try Bubba.
Report Post »MrBigBillyB
Posted on March 29, 2011 at 6:48pmABC,
Your point regarding language hindrances is almost valid, but you are not coming at this with an apples to apples comparison. I’m not talking about adding a foreign language to a curriculum being a hindrance. I’m not talking about native Finnish speakers also learning English in school. The ability to learn another language is not what I was referring to. My kids have been taught a second language since 1st grade. It’s not about teaching a second language.
Let me make another comparison that would equate and leave Spanish out. You don’t see 10 million Russians moving to Finland, refusing to learn Finnish, refusing to teach their children Finnish and expecting the educational system to cater to them, and make it all better. You don’t see 20 million Vietnamese moving to Japan and refusing to learn Japanese and expecting society to cater to them. The point is that they have different expectations in those societies. Having worked very closely with Finnish people, I do have a point of reference on this. If I wanted to succeed in France I would expect to have to learn French. If I wanted to succeed in China, I would expect to have to learn Chinese. I wouldn’t expect everyone in China to learn English so that I wouldn’t have to learn Chinese.
Report Post »abc
Posted on March 29, 2011 at 7:15pmRJO, you are too smart for me. Refusing to “fall” for my trap of asking you to cite facts. You are good. Good luck understanding reality when you don’t want to cite facts.
Mr Big, I get the resistence of some immigrants to learning English. You saw it with Cubans in FL who really just wanted/hoped that they could go back. You don’t see it with Mexicans. Their kids assimilate and learn English at the same rate as Chinese or Italian immigrants have. The parents struggle with the language, just like those fresh off the boat from other countries. Many studies show that the assimilation rates are the same. But this is lost since the number of new immigrants coming is still high, and people do not differentiate first from second generation. Living in LA, I see this all the time.
But this is kind of beside the point. No one is blaming the unwillingness of Mexicans to learn English, as false as that claim may be, for the general failure of our students versus the Finns or the Koreans. And if you just look at the math scores, where such language problems are not an issue at all, since we all use the same numerical and mathematical notation around the world, you find the same performance gap. Again, you start with a false conservative narrative and try to fit that square peg into the round hole of explaining the education problems in the US. Ideological narratives do little to solve real world problems. They just lead to muddled thinking and bogus theories on how to fix things. And this is good enough for the politicians that do not want to solve the problem, but exploit it to win votes for the next election cycle….or to boost ratings for the political pundits’ shows and websites.
Report Post »avenger
Posted on March 29, 2011 at 7:20pmaha..the epitome of the progressive dream ! why fk around…lets admit we want a population of functional morons that keep these bastards in power…
Report Post »MrBigBillyB
Posted on March 29, 2011 at 7:40pmABC
My “false conservative narrative” is not blaming Mexicans who refuse to learn English. Again, you have missed the point . The point is not that the language barrier is the problem. I’m not blaming a language barrier. I am blaming societal expectations which is what this whole thread is about. Look at the different expectations of each society. The language issue is merely a symptom of the socitetal expectations of the US versus the other countries that you mentioned. Our societal expectations are such that if a student is not successful, we blame the process, not the student, not the teacher but the test they are taking. We see kids growing up in poor urban areas so we expect them to fail so we do all that we can to make it easier for them. We lower the bar to make them feel better, but not make them successful in our society. I could be wrong but I don’t see that in the other societies that you mentioned. A lot is expected of the kids and they rise to the occasion.
And Living in Texas, I see the refusal to assimialte to the language all the time. I have friends who lose their teaching jobs because they don’t speak spanish. The students don’t assimilate and learn English as fast as other nationalities because they are not forced to. There is a pretty large Laotian population in one of the cities nearby, but there is not a school that teaches primarily in Lao, and English as a second language. However there ARE numerous schools that do teach primarily in Spanish.
All that is secondary to the point that America expects less of their students so the students meet those expectations.
Report Post »MinorityRightsAdvocate
Posted on March 29, 2011 at 11:36pm@GhostofJefferson
Since somehow my prior post is missing now, and your reply, let me reply here:
First of all, don’t assume some superiority over someone you don’t know. If you want to have some perspective on my educational background, fell free to read up on the about tab on my blog linked from my username. I know exactly what a standardized test is, and I also know they don’t in and of themselves lead to an erosion of educational outcomes as you seem to believe.
It is NOT the tests that are the problem; it is the lack of standards, lack of discipline, and specifically the destruction of the family. That is the root of the problems with education. Everyone wants someone else to provide and pay, and no-one thinks they have responsibility (save a tiny minority).
Since when did ANY system of near monopoly, one size fits all, achieve excellence? Never, so why do we expect money pit, one size fits all, Government schools to be any different?
It takes a restoration of the family, direct and personal responsibly and competition in education based on performance and achievement to fix this mess, but that is NOT something a progressive would ever want, because it decentralizes the power and does not permit them to manipulate and control others the way they want to, and in that you find REAL the reason for a one size fits all Government School system.
With that said, there is no reason we can’t have clear un-biased expectations for educational performance across the nation based upon the three R’s, Reading, Writing and Arithmetic. We can and should set achievable and realistic expectations of where we expect our future citizens to be to attain a diploma which certifies that outcome, and it would be helpful to set this across the nation. There is nothing political about the basics; they form a near universal basis for an effective free citizen to achieve success and employment in society. I’d prefer the use of a non-government organization to set standards, like the College Board does for SAT and ACT tests however, since if political agendas get into the process it gets totally dysfunctional, like it actually has become, since over time it has drifted further away from the family, while at the same time problems have become worse. This is not mere coincidence, and even many teachers will tell you they feel helpless dealing with out of control kids whose parents instill virtually no discipline or respect. It has to start with the families.
http://minorityrightsadvocate.wordpress.com/2011/02/10/attack-on-the-family-the-consistent-agenda-of-the-left-and-an-example-of-its-consequences/
And the link on my prior post:
http://minorityrightsadvocate.wordpress.com/2011/02/17/save-your-children-the-progressive-aims-to-convert-them-and-turn-them-against-you-in-pursuit-of-their-agenda/
Report Post »abc
Posted on March 30, 2011 at 12:25amMr. Big, now I understand. I agree that standards should be high, but you need to hold everyone accountable and have plans for when one given constituency cannot uphold the standard. When the parents fail, how does the state intervene? When the teacher fails, how does the school and school board intervene? You get the idea.
I wonder why you needed to implicate illegal immigrants and their alleged unwillingness to learn the local language and culture as a way of illustrating standards that are not being upheld. It was a really round-about way to make that point.
Report Post »dawg of gawd
Posted on March 30, 2011 at 7:44amThere’s no education problem. Bush fixed all that with “No Child Left Behind” His missus was a librarian, you know.
No?
Report Post »MrBigBillyB
Posted on March 30, 2011 at 11:51amABC,
Sorry to have taken so long to make my point clearer. I was merely using the immigrants (nothing said about illegal) as an example of the difference in the US society and the others that you mentioned with high education results. I also mentioned (among other things) economic differences, family structure differences, and neighborhood environment differences. It’s the societal differences that are the key to the success rate rather than Centralization of the schools. By your own admission, our schools were better than they are now, and then we tried to centralized education by creating the Department of Education, and “the family” began to change with both parents working and large increases in single parent households. I merely defended my point that eliminating the DoE and federal funding, states wouldn’t have to subject the students with the national standardized tests that you seem to be against.
As far as solutions go, the first step would be to stop passing kids to the next grade just to keep them with their age group. If he/she still struggles in that second year, then maybe place them in a separate school (either a charter school with vouchers, or some other state-funded school) where the student can get more individual attention without holding the rest of the students back.
Report Post »abc
Posted on March 30, 2011 at 3:26pmMr. Big. Got it. And I agree with that last point. I’ve been saying for a while that we ought to look at Germany as a model. They have great technical high schools for kids who cannot cut academic work and should not shoot for college. Their system works better than our vocational schools. But that is only a first, tiny step. There is a lot of work required, and progress will be very slow, I’m afraid.
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