Always searching for inspiration…

In our educational system No Child Left Behind is a very serious topic as of right now. Not only are educators starting to voice their opinions about the social complications of this legislature, but government officials are as well. In an article I found with The Grand Rapids Press U.S. Representative Peter Hoekstra wants to create a new legislation that would give the responsibility of what happens in our educational system back to the government and essentially making NCLB impossible to use.

Hoekstra doesn’t believe his legislation has a chance, but wants to make a point. “Education has always been under local and parental control. We want to empower the states so they can say, ‘We’re going to be responsible for the state education,’” Hoekstra said Thursday.

I find this statement extremely ironical because maybe I am the only one who had this understanding, but I thought that the government has been responsible the whole time. Regardless, I respect the fact that someone who is within the government is finally trying to publicly recognize a need for some change with NCLB. Hoekstra acknowledges many of the issues that I have discussed such as schools are penalized or received pulled funding for situations that are beyond teacher control when trying to teach toward a yearly test. In addition, this legislature is quoted as having “little flexibility” in its measurements. Similarly, the previous story about immigrants being academically punished due to NCLB is also a reality in Holland (another place where the Latino population has grown considerably and having to deal with the same consequences).

He also discusses in this article how by teachers having to instruct and change their curriculum in order to satisfy test standards there is some level of discrimination. The reason for this is they are having students who are likely not to perform well pushed away with most of the instructor’s time being spent on the students who will do well. This occurs as a result of schools’ fears of being closed down or teachers losing their jobs. In other words, students who are supposed to benefiting from this act are actually be punished in more ways than what was earlier mentioned. Rather they are being crippled from having the opportunity to become mature thinkers who are capable of learning to read and write at a more in-depth level which occurs through creativity and thought-process.

Creating a system in which students are credited for showing growth in a subject rather than asking them to pass tests they’re not prepared to pass would be a first step, he said.

Entrepreneurial skills, critical thinking and creativity are being replaced by one goal: getting the kids to pass a test, he said.

“We’re all going to be there. The question is, is anybody going to be at the right place?” Schlemmer asked.

I agree with these men because after the test-drive of this act it is clear that what students need is a creative outlet that does not require them being forced to spend their secondary careers trying to memorize literary facts. Students will truly benefit from the opportunity to express their thoughts and creativity in a controlled environment such as a classroom. I get the feeling that many government officials think that this is unimportant and should be left for time outside of school. What they do not realize is that students respond to this, therefore making them more likely to retain information they have learned. The goal is “proficiency” so why not teach to students in a way that they do retain what they have been taught each year.

Hoekstra takes aim at No Child Left Behind laws

Nardy Baeza Bickel

The Grand Rapids Press

February 23, 2007

Complete Article