No Child Left Behind

A friend and mentor of mine, who works for the State's School Sytems sent me a letter of even his disenchament with the stupidity of No Child Left Behind. This is my response against the program
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Phil,

Of course you probably see the dangers with this kind of legislation mores so than I do, but I have been railing against this kind of Government Centric ideology for years. I am especially against NCLB, the DOE and all State (FEDERAL) Sponsorship of education. I live in Roselle, a town bragged on for it’s great schools. Yet the Feds (who have NO BUSINESS in education at all) have decided I live in a failing district.

The provision is problematic for administrators at Lake Park High School, a one-school district in Roselle. Classes started Wednesday, and if the school remains on the failing list, officials will have to negotiate an agreement with a neighboring district to provide students with a choice.

Lake Park District 108 administrators said they believe they were placed on the list because special-education and Latino students failed to meet state standards in math and science, but "we're still waiting" for official word from the state, said spokeswoman Terry Ryan. -Chicago Tribune

The foolishness of this is that it is the direct result of people allowing the decisions that most affect their lives to be made at the highest levels of government. In a free republic (which we are under the constitution) the weight of importance of a matter lowers the level of government of which decisions and funding should come. There is possibly NO issue more than important to the heart of a parent than education. My small house in Roselle, cost more than a house with about 800 – 1000 square feet more in Aurora mostly because of the reputation of the schools. People will pay to live in a district that they see will be the right choice for their child’s future. That is the way it should be.

Now I am MOST FEVERENTLY a supporter of Private or Home education. I believe that a parent should decide the type of education their child receives. I plan on using a combination of these two methodologies for my child. But the problem that allows for a program like NCLB to exist is that most parents do not want to spend the fiscal resources, or show the personal responsibility to make the best choice for their child’s education.

I hope the NCLB does crash from it’s own weight. I hope that more and more people remove their children from the States failed education systems. I hope that the responsibility of education returns where it belongs, to the home and to the community.

Just my rant!

Kevin

PS – The crappy part is that the feds don’t send all that much money anyway to fund their ridiculous program.