The controversy over the federal No Child Left Behind program, and Michigan’s Education YES companion legislation, should be exhibit 4,739 in the pile of evidence proving that one should be careful when asking the government to fix anything.
In the case of the public schools, it is a double irony because school districts are, after all, units of government.
Now, your humble reporter has a lot more sympathy for teachers and administrators than many. It cannot be an easy job teaching children in today’s culture, especially since we’ve come to expect school staff to be caretakers, social workers, psychologists, police officers, nutritionists. . .oh, yeah. . .and let’s teach academic subjects when we have time.
It is precisely this phenomenon, however, that leads some of us to question the degree of angst shown by those very school officials. After all, over the past couple of generations they have gladly embraced all those roles, with many now acting as if only ‘certified educators? have the authority to determine what is best ‘for the children.?
Now that someone is attempting to answer the public call for higher standards of accountability, however, it’s time for school supporters to protest government intrusion (at least intrusion from a different level of government).
To be fair, at the Academic Boosters of Clarkston meeting last week, Dr. Al Roberts came the closest I’ve ever heard for a school official to publicly cite the impact of family and social problems in children’s education. Now the feds and the state seem to lump everyone together, regardless of the variety of educational challenges in the student body.
Nonetheless, some of protests seem a little late in coming.
For example, one parent, reacting to some of the potential government-imposed ‘consequences? on ‘failing schools,? lamented: ‘Don’t they have it hard enough? How are those schools going to deal with it??
The more appropriate question could be: ‘Why haven’t they dealt with it before now??
When we hear the battle cry, ‘Every child should be able to read by the time he or she reaches third grade,? we can’t help but wonder: How do children get promoted to third grade without being able to read?
People in public schools have criticized parochial, charter and home schools, but it’s obvious that some parents have been dissatisfied and have exercised their right of choice. While these alternative schools don’t have to deal with all the standardized tests, many people are impressed with their quality of education.
Some public school officials criticize politicians for meddling in educational standards. They have lobbied for and welcomed the politicians? involvement in funding school programs, however. (Indeed, one wonders how much staff time is used in completing all the paperwork required to receive the various tax levies and grants.)
The anger at No Child Left Behind is legitimate, but it should be for a completely different reason. Why is the federal government involved in what should be a local issue? How many people have been educated by the U.S. Department of Education?
Criticism of state officials is only slightly less appropriate. Standardized curriculum may be a good thing, but why must it come with the baggage of political lobbying and bureaucracy?
The above questions are not likely to appear on the MEAP tests anytime soon. . .