Angela Memoli(edison): No Child Left Behind

I’ve been reading Newsweek and the very last page of the magizane,  they talk about No Child Left Behind and Arne Duncan, the new Secretary of Education. He has spent seven years leading Chicago’s public schools and he has some good ideas, but Duncan thinks that time and talent make schools effective. That maybe true, but what the children that have to take a thirty minute or more bus ride to even go to school, that takes time away for the student.

Many poeple ask, “Why can’t the student go to a closer school?” Well, the problem with that is School Choice. School picks your school by random by district. I could have gone to Leehigh High School, but they said I had to go to RiverDale. What I didn’t get was why my friend who lives next door to RiverDale had to go to Dunbar.

Duncan wants to take out the “bad teachers”, who are the ones that are retairing and old and put in new teachers. About 10,000 “bad teachers” will be replaced by new teachers. Not all the bad teachers are old, they can bring in some of the things they have seen in the world that may not be seen today. Most of us may not see a big war like World War II, and when WWII is being taught that exprience can be told to the students.

Now telent, what does he think telent is? He is talking about sport telent, writing/reading or math telent? These are big things and they play a lot in a students’ live. How do you judge telent? Is the Fcat and other simailar tests going to test that?

But what if the child doesn’t pass and can’t get the help he/she needs, does that child get pushed aside for other? This is a big question. A child could fail all of the Fcats and still can do good in class. That’s when society says that they are bad test takers, and leave at that or say that he/she is mildly retarded. This is not true, one can do badly on the Fcats and still be a good test taker.

How about we change the rulers a little? What if we make schools closer to student’s homes, where time and gas could be saved. Have classes and programs to help the child(ren) if they having trouble with these tests? Then that child can show he’she has telent and show how wrong the schooling was.

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