Children In The Dust

2 Pages 580 Words

Children in the Dust
To many the concept of holding educational institutions accountable and decreasing funding should their students not meet the standard is brilliant. However, the No Child Left Behind Act, enacted under President George W. Bush, is probably one of the worst pieces of legislation signed by a president ever. Since being enacted educational institutions across the United States have witnessed its effects, and to no surprise the failure rate in public schools has increased. Many argue this is because the federal government has raised the bar, but in reality it is because many veteran teachers are dumbfounded by the logic of politicians. As a result, the teachers have given up, putting less and less effort into ensuring success for a child. The time has come to take a stand against this horrible legislation in order to secure an educational future for the next generation.
Since its enactment numerous schools have taken drastic measures to ensure that they continue to receive funding. This effort includes the single most important thing preached to young children never to do and that is to cheat. Teachers now encourage cheating in order to keep their jobs and help the school district receive funding. In Chicago, about 5 percent of the 40,000 classrooms have seen cheating since legislation was stepped up (Grow, 2004). In mid-June a Boston principal was suspended with pay amidst accusations of aiding four students in cheating. In California a May review revealed that more than 200 teachers had been investigated for cheating. It is very clear that in the aftermath of the No Child Left Behind Act teachers and faculty are resorting to desperate measures to keep their funding.
To break the legislation down on a simpler level Ken Remsen compares the law to cows in an article in Teacher Librarian via the Burlington Press. To begin, the federal government should mandate testing all cows starting at age 2. Theoretically testi...