Rep. Hoekstra says Bush education law a massive failure

[Terri]

By Jim Brown
AgapePress
March 9, 2007

(AgapePress) -- A Michigan congressman says Republicans "sold out" on their principles and "sold out" parents and students when they helped President Bush pass the No Child Left Behind Act in 2001.

Congress is getting set to take up reauthorization of President Bush's signature education law. One of the law's most vocal critics in Congress, Representative Pete Hoekstra (R -- Michigan), says No Child Left Behind (NCLB) has made schools, school boards, and school administrators "beggars to Washington, DC."

More

[Engineer Scott]

Hoekstra is introducing alternative legislation in the House that will allow states to make the declaration that they will assume the primary responsibility for educating the students in their state.

Somehow I don't expect a lot of states to take this up. A few will, but if Minnesoviet is any indication, the locals are tired of ponying up the $$ for education and will willingly vote for those who promise state and possibly federal money for it.

Scotty

[Sparke]

Why is it a failure.....?? Well I'll tell you. "No Child Left Behind" in a real world translation actually means "No Teacher Left Standing", because the teacher is where all the blame ends up resting. This is how this plan works... If a child scores poorly on an SOL test, does the child not advance to the next grade? No, it has no bearing. Does the child know this? Yes he does. Does the parent know this? Yes they do. So then does the parent really care if little Johnny scores poorly on an SOL? No they don't. So where is the motivation? The only motivation is the school wants the children to do well because they are accountable and the teacher is motivated because the school holds her accountable. But it doesn't matter how motivated the school is and how hard the teacher works to find some unique way for each child to grasp the curriculum and score well on the SOL test, if a child is unmotivated and realizes there's no consequences for totally bombing an SOL test, (except for the consequences for their teacher, whom they don't really like anyway because "she's been making me do stuff all year and even made me stay behind school for detention that one day because I got in a fight"), they are not making any real effort to pass that test. "You can lead a horse to water......." I have been married to a teacher for many years and I can tell you some horror stories, but the fact is our public school system has become a place where only teachers are ever held accountable. If a child is disruptive in class, the teacher has a problem with classroom management. If a child doesn't do well on a test, the teacher didn't work hard enough to find out what "that" child needed to learn the curriculum. No federally mandated standards of learning are going to help our schools until the accountability rules shift back to students having more responsibility for their own actions. When we return to a time before we decided that the most important factor in our educational system was making sure that we didn't damage their little self esteem. Back when excellence was awarded for effort and failure was awarded for lack of effort. I've got an idea, folks. Before you decide what's wrong with our education system, go work in it for a year. Try out one of those schools that aren't doing so well and see if you don't find out that what I'm telling you is true.

[Amawalk John]

The "No child left behind" program has not convinced me that it was anything more than an opportunity for a compromise with Senator Kennedy.

Public schools continue to be run for the benefit of the employees, not the students.

The free market should be allowed to sort out this mess, Vouchers should be available to any student -- or to his or her parents -- who is dissatisfied with the quality of education at the local public school.

[RealDeal]

When we return to a time before we decided that the most important factor in our educational system was making sure that we didn't damage their little self esteem.

The notion that was started by the educational establishment, btw... and now they're ticked cuz parents actually BOUGHT INTO IT?? Here's a hankie....

Teachers also need to clean their own house re: NEA, etc...

The free market should be allowed to sort out this mess, Vouchers should be available to any student -- or to his or her parents -- who is dissatisfied with the quality of education at the local public school.

[rangerrebew]

Let me see, hm. The veterans health care system is a mess, the federalies education program is a mess, the welfare system is a mess, border safety is a mess . Could it be that the federal government getting involved in things turns the programs in to horse dookey?