No Child Left Behind=No Child Gets Ahead

The gorverment serves many purposes. Some of them are:

• protect the rights and wellfare of citizens
• enforce laws to ensure safety and order in the community
• provide health care
• help make important political descisions
• promote the growth of education

Some say, however, that the goverment is not doing its job. I personally think that some of the higher officials in the government system are not executing their duties properly. The No Child Left Behind Act, I think, is having the opposite affect on American schools. The children who lower test scores and depleate moral in the schools are not the ones who have learning disabilities, or are non-native speakers. These kids work hard, because they know that they have the odds stacked against them. No, the ones who are responsible for the lack of success are the kids who keep the chair warm and don't try because, no matter how you slice it, they simply don't care.

Having the teachers work harder will not solve this issue. Teachers are required to do more than ever, including mastering new "goundbreaking" learning techniques, and taking on as many as thirty-one students for each class they teach. Students are hardly ever held responsible for their academic success or failure. Teachers are required to spend their personal time calling and e-mailing parents and dealing when a child is unsuccessful. It seems that American students are getting used to having the work done for them.

I feel that the goverment is really missing the picture here. I would love to start a mini-revolution, to prove that what may look good on paper doesn't nescessarily work out. (Communism?) Maybe there will come a time when teachers and students alike, who are fed up with the rediculous expectations of public schools, could "fight" together to change the ways of the government. I don't want a war, or huge political uproar; I just want to get my point across.

As with any conflict, getting someone to listen is always the hard part. I don't know if I would be willing to literally fight in a war, because i am not a violent person. I would approach the situation with more of a Martin Luther King Jr. style, as opposed to Malcom X. I don't know if I could serve my country phsyically, such as joining the military and fighting on the front lines. I'm not sure. I just know that something needs to change.