Is the "No Child Left Behind" Policy hurting our best and brightest?

http://www.kywnewsradio.com ^

[moog]

why do we have an educational program that ends in a preposition?

It left me dangling too.

[sweetliberty]

"What is needed is privatization of the educational system."

I agree with you, but it's never going to happen. Too many people are locked into the mindset of "something for nothing," which brings to mind another saying: "you get what you pay for." Of course, it isn't really free, but the ones doing the paying are not necessarily the ones doing the getting...at least not directly

[moog]

something for nothing

Works for any welfare payment...

[sweetliberty]

Handicapping the swiftest...hmmm; good analogy. I like it. Think I might use it.

[gondramB]

"Good thing for the private sector to take up, not big government. I want MY choice too--the choice to even have a child. Furthermore, I should have the choice to complain about/for my child. Maybe I should lobby the government so they can pay for my personal choice too. Maybe my neighbors will help out."

I'm not sure I understood this post... are you saying that rather than have vouchers we should do away with public spending for education?

[moog]

Handicapping the swiftest...hmmm; good analogy. I like it. Think I might use it

SeattleSlew was my favorite. He had a good handicap, whatever the odds.

[Sloth]

I'm drawing on the differences in courseload and work between the two, and don't think it's the elite mentality kicking in. For instance, I took an economics course as an elective. Prof touted this class-end paper as "A real Bear" and talked it up all semester. The paper turned out to be only 3-5 pages. I was getting 4x as much every night in each of my other EE classes. I knocked the paper out the morning it was due and got an A. The sad part was that I was one of a very few to pick up an 'A'.

LOL, I remember that feeling... I was in chemical engineering, but I took some elective economics and geography courses and kept listening in disbelief to all these basket-weaving majors complaining about how *hard* they were.

[moog]

I'm not sure I understood this post... are you saying that rather than have vouchers we should do away with public spending for education?

Nope. Read the last four sentences.

[moog]

these basket-weaving majors complaining about how *hard* they were.

That pattern is hard to get down you know, end over end over end over end over end. Mine still doesn't hold water, though sometimes I can hold a candle to it.

[del4hope]

If I may suggest you attend a state home school convention this summer in your state. Once you scan the curriculum options, you will be overwhelmed with realization that there is a better option.

[born in the Bronx]

It was John Dewey--Thomas Dewey was the Governor of NY who ran against Truman in 1948, and was a strong anti-communist.

[moog]

John Dewey--Thomas Dewey

They sure knew their decimals though.

[gondramB]

"If I may suggest you attend a state home school convention this summer in your state. Once you scan the curriculum options, you will be overwhelmed with realization that there is a better option."

You know MIT has all of it's lessons online for free but that's not what makes MIT - it's the professors and the other smart students. Smart students who have that option still go to MIT insteado using the materials for free at home.

Now, I'm a pretty good math and science teacher. But I won't be home schooling even though I was department head at a good private school because I'm not the best choice to teach all the other courses.

[WVNan]

Hear hear. Personally I think there are very few "slow" kids to begin with. There are kids with low motivation or home situations that impede their learning. The problem is how is the best way to reach and teach these kids.

I have a son who is borderline genius. His whole school experience was a nightmare. We tried public school, private school and finally gave up on expecting any school to work for him. I taught him at home and sent him to obligatory public school. He spent most of the day sitting outside the classroom door in the hall. Today he is a successful businessman with multitalents. Musical genius, mathmatical, literary skills. The whole package. So, what's the answer? I think it has to boil down to identifying the individual problem and finding ways around it.

[Gabz]

Once you scan the curriculum options, you will be overwhelmed with realization that there is a better option.

For some of us, homeschooling is not the best option.

[Gabz]

I think it has to boil down to identifying the individual problem and finding ways around it.

We have a winner.

[moog]

Indeed we do.

[television is just wrong]

Not only that, but this bi-lingual education is doing the same thing.

Yes, the brightest are being left behind. It is another branch of the PC crowd thinking that everyone is the same.

Everyone is not the same we are all individuals and yes some are smarter than others.

[WhiteGuy]

Government run schools are just as effective as government itself.

[born in the Bronx]

Don't know if he said this or not, but John (never Thomas) Dewey believed that the prime function of public schools was to "socialize" children; academic achievement was secondary. He DID say that teachers must never treat more intelligent children as if they are in any way superior to the rest of the class. Whether or not the quote is authentic, it is not out of line with some of his thinking.
(And frankly, I think kids can use more rote learning in the lower grades, so they have something solid to build on when they do get to be more creative. When you look at the "rote" textbooks of 100 years ago, and see what was required of children then, you have to conclude that Dewey's ideas lead to a decline in academic achievement)