My Life Be Like…

You want a domestic issue that will hit home with all American students, let’s talk about the No Child Gets Left Behind act, passed by George W. Bush. This act was passed in order to promote education for every child in the United States and to ensure that everyone is educated, but is it really working? Think about this for a second, have you ever sat down to take a standardized test, like the C.A.P.T. test for example, and wondered to yourself, “why am I taking this? Is this actually helping me achieve anything?” the answer is, no it is not helping you, and you are taking that test becuase No Child Gets Left Behind requires you to.

 This act is absurdly hypocritical in many different ways. For one thing, the act gives monetary support to those schools with students who score highly on those standardized tests. But where does that leave those other schools with students with lower schools? they are left behind in the dust! Why are we wasting our time with this act, which is supposed to be benefitting us, when it is actually harming those students in need of educational and financial aid? Also, No Child Gets Left behind, is taking valuable school time away from teachers and students, because it requires schools to teach seminars to ameliorate standardized test scores. For instance, here at the high school, there are C.A.P.T. seminars offered for students that have failed the C.A.P.T. testing the first time around. These seminars take time away from actual classroom learning time, therefore imposing upon our grades in school.

 People all around the United States do not support this act becuse the way Bush runs it is not efficient

A small but growing number of school systems around the country are beginning to resist the demands of President Bush’s signature education law, saying its efforts to raise student achievement are too costly and too cumbersome.” New York Times, 1/2/04

 If we really want to help our children, the act should be abolished! because right now, it is not helping anyone, it is hurting our children.