Andrew Wrote:
Week 3 Free Topic - Both sides of the coin.
One of the most fascinating things about people is how they can ignore things when they don't fit their beliefs. I think everyone does this to a certain extent. I still do. With the dawn of the Internet, it is easy now to find information that completely reinforces our own world view.
From this myopia comes the Law of Unintended Consequences, or as I like to call it, The Other Side of the Coin. No choice in life is a certain thing but some people think it is because they choose not to see the other side of the coin. For example:
No Child Left Behind. When it was written I at first liked the idea. Let's put down some standards for students to measure up to. Encourage success, and punish failure. Sounds good.
Of course there are many problems with this. Just the name itself is loaded with problems. No Child Left Behind indicates that all children will do equally well and nobody will fail (aka be left behind). The problem is when you look at the other side of the coin. If you want all children to do equally well then you have to hold back the high achievers too. Enforcing this standardization on everyone is a left over from the factory model education system. Teachers are handcuffed to Teaching to the Test.
The only skill the students will really have after they graduate is a skill of taking standardized tests.
So here is my radical idea. Disband the Department of Education entirely. Let states try 50 different approaches to education and see what happens. Let kids excel and provide guidance to help them get there. Over time the best approaches will become clear and will then be passed around to other schools. What makes this country great is American Ingenuity, not government.
Most critically, make sure from an early age young kid's native gifts are recognized and nurtured before the factory school beats it out of them. So who's with me?
From this myopia comes the Law of Unintended Consequences, or as I like to call it, The Other Side of the Coin. No choice in life is a certain thing but some people think it is because they choose not to see the other side of the coin. For example:
No Child Left Behind. When it was written I at first liked the idea. Let's put down some standards for students to measure up to. Encourage success, and punish failure. Sounds good.
Of course there are many problems with this. Just the name itself is loaded with problems. No Child Left Behind indicates that all children will do equally well and nobody will fail (aka be left behind). The problem is when you look at the other side of the coin. If you want all children to do equally well then you have to hold back the high achievers too. Enforcing this standardization on everyone is a left over from the factory model education system. Teachers are handcuffed to Teaching to the Test.
The only skill the students will really have after they graduate is a skill of taking standardized tests.
So here is my radical idea. Disband the Department of Education entirely. Let states try 50 different approaches to education and see what happens. Let kids excel and provide guidance to help them get there. Over time the best approaches will become clear and will then be passed around to other schools. What makes this country great is American Ingenuity, not government.
Most critically, make sure from an early age young kid's native gifts are recognized and nurtured before the factory school beats it out of them. So who's with me?
My response:
What a great post Andrew:). I agree that a belief system causes a person to hold strong to the side they are putting their faith in and the individuals in congress who believe in NCLB are blinded by their ambition to save public education or to save children from being left behind. There are huge problems with the bill and no one in "Charge" wants to admit that the venture is a failure and is causing schools to be an unwelcoming place for students and Teachers.
Frankly, I sometimes fell like getting out of education because of the politics. I love kids. Obviously, I am an art teacher and I want to have a fun loving atmosphere free from judgement and full of self expression. This becomes very hard when the atmosphere in the school is high stress, no fun, pass the test or the state is taking over. The fear is squelching the teachers ability to be a creative and fun learning mentor to these children.
School should be an awesome fun place that kids love to explore and discover new things like in children's museums. Unfortunately the schools I have been within are more like a pressure cooker with 9 day old pea soup with a off smell. Kids don't want to go and the teachers are tired. I have to guess that this was not the vision congress had in mind when they passed NCLB.
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