Blog # 3

First off, this isn't the first time I hear about NCLB I actually studied it last semester in the Education in History class I had. In my opinion NCLB is one of those ideas that seems really great when you read it on paper. There are parts of NCLB that when you read it you ask yourself, "why didn't we do this before?" But the fact of the matter is that we cannot simply go by what is on paper. Now that the law is in effect we have seen that many people do not agree with the law. I personally think the law is a joke, like the video says it is not human nature for all of us to be equal and set the same high standards as everybody else. This is something that will never happen, simply because of the fact that we cannot all learn equally. It is human nature for one person to be better one thing than they are at another. It just doesn't make sense to me how our government can make these ridiculous laws. Also NCLB is unfair to minority groups because lets say you just moved from your country here to the US and you are beginning to learn english. According to the NCLB act your school suffers from low test scores that are taken yearly from 3-8 grade. So imagine being a school in a location where minority groups make up a lot of ur population. All you will actually do is hurt your school. This is dumb. Therefore, its like the video explained, it makes "fear" the dominant factor in education. Currently I think many schools now teach not for students to learn but for the simple fact that they want to see "rewards" and not punishments from NCLB. Another factor I do not agree with is the fact that you(teachers) basically plan out the entire year based on the standardized test. The main focus is only on the material that will be given on the test, so how do you get smarter and extend your way of thinking(as a student) if everything you are learning is already planned out for you. NCLB cuts students from learning extra things and mayb even more productive things, but instead you must follow the curriculum of NCLB or if not you will see punishments for not passing the tests. This is why I believe that students as a whole see school as a forceful thing to attend to. It is not a welcoming environment, honestly who likes to do things or attend to things that you already know the outcome to? Thats what school is now, "go to school learn what you have to because the big test follows it." Maybe this is why so many students turn to other things and drop out of school. But I guess this is what we have to deal with, a corrupt education.