I have to vent-no child left behind stinks!

[carpe kid]

My son just had his first day of second grade today. His school is nationally recognized for the quality of the education that is provided. He brought home a letter that has me up in arms.

The entire district scored well on the state's exams (english and math) with the exception of two categories. One, hispanic origin and two, students with a low comprehension of the English language. Now, due to two groups scoring low the district is going to divert efforts to focus on improving the low scores.

As a parent I feel that my kids are going to suffer because of this. Does anyone else see the irony of this situation.

 

[STL-Scott]

No habla inglese senor? Da nada?

I had no idea what ESL (English as a Second Language) meant 8 years ago when my oldest was entering high school in Denver...now it is mainstream.

Yes, I see this as a problem with public education. We just went through a 9 month long struggle to send our youngest to the 'right' school. My wife was convinced that our local elementary school was going to ruin our sons future and his education would suffer due to the MAPS (I think) scores for this school. So...we set out to get him in the best private school we could afford. Well it turns out, we are not from an old money family...or currently in a new money family...so the private non-denominational schools turned us down. So we got him into a local Catholic School...well we are not of the faith...went to Mass for about 4 months (looking to convert) and this summer decided we would pay the extra to send him there as a non-parishioner. I think they would have let us do this and not given us a hard time...but last week on Thursday my wife is driving my son by the school his friends are all going to (the local public school) it's the 1st day of School, and he has a HUGH FIT! She calls me up while I am waiting to board my flight at Lambert...and asks what do you think about registering him at Parkway. Guess where he is going to school now?

Anyway, here is my take. As parents, we need to play an active and vital part of our childerns education. If we think that by sending our kids to school, they will get educated, and we don't have to do any work, than we are wrong. I attended a lot of open house's for the private schools and the one underlying thread that kept coming up, is that kids need to do homework every night and parents need to be a part of this, even if it is just being around to answer questions. Don't take this the wrong way Carpe, not making any statements about you and your family. I look back at my upbringing and I would say the one thing I wish my parents had done differently, is be around when I was doing homework or participating in after school activities. Both of my parents worked, and this is the case for most people today. I don't think we realize how strong of a role we play in our kids development. I know I don't do as much as I can or should with my son. Part of this is dedicating the time.

Schools are understaffed, teachers are underpaid, and the governments want to make sure everyone gets through. If you want to get your kids to excel, that I think (unfortunatly) it is gonig to be up to us (parents) to make this happen - at least in the early stages K-8. high schools seem to be better equiped for AP placement courses and more advanced college prep options...

Ok, my rant is over...thanks for getting me started CK. I'm sure it will work out.

P.S. - My son is really enjoying his new 'public school'. My wife was impressed with how much homework they are sending home with new Kindergarten students.

 

[TBULL]

My wife is a teacher..

I couldn't agree more with both of you. Our schools shouldn't just focus on bringing up the marginal scores at the expense of the time with the other kids. If that happens all the time the the smarter kids won't get as much face time with teacher and they end up being pulled down to the average. Some of the below average may come up and some won't. That's why the scale goes from 0 to 100%. We as parents need to be active and work with our kids because my kids are my responsibility. I can't tell you how many hours Shelley or I have spent helping our girls with their homework. No Child Left Behind is a farce to much of the educational community. It's under funded with an unattainable goal. Some people just don't want to learn and you can't make them do it and other kids shouldn't suffer from it.

English as a Second Language? If it happens it our own fault for not standing up to our congressman and demanding that people speak english and not their "native" tongue. I was born here, so I speak english. Millions of immigrants in the past have learned English. That's part of the price of living in America and too many people have died so that we can speak english in this country. We could be speaking German.

I could go on and on with examples, but you get the point.

 

[Tim M]

 

[rednour1]

Well said all!

 

[Tim M]

Ever receive an owner's manual for an "american" made product and the first 5 pages are in Spanish, the next 5 in English and the last 5 in French? I don't get it anymore

 

[A Snake]

Teaching to the test

I am an ex educater...taught Voc Auto.
My daughter is an elementry teacher.
The schools funding is based on the test scores set for No Child Left Behind and the teachers are "graded" on test scores. My Daughters class scored very well last year and she is worried that she will be investigated for "cheating".
The NCLB program is working as the test scores are rising for the minority population and that was what the program was created to do. But what about the rest of the population in the system.
As for the Spanish as a second language: I have a T-shirt that says"Welcome to America, now speak English"..wife gets upset when I wear it in public, but it does reflect my feelings.The United States was one vote away from having German as our official language. I am from German decent so I guess that would have been a good thing for me but I am perfectly satisifed with the English thing we have going even though I still have trouble with it 63 years later.

Got that off my chest so now I can go have another cup of caffeine and go home and watch my grass grow...better than watching paint dry.

 

[carpe kid]

I have no issues with helping others learn the English Language. I have no issues with people coming into the US and not knowing the English Language. I have problems with those that don't have any desire to learn. I firmly believe it is costing my children the education they deserve. I must also mention that both my wife and I work with our son nightly, we expect him to bring his work home, so we are involved and not "stand-by" parents. I can also only guess that it also gets the teacher discouraged to have to teach a child English as opposed to the lesson plan they have put into place.

Interesting quote-

"In the first place, we should insist that if the immigrant who comes here in good faith becomes an American and assimilates himself to us, he shall be treated on an exact equality with everyone else, for it is an outrage to discriminate against any such man because of creed, or birthplace, or origin. But this is predicated upon the person's becoming in every facet an American, and nothing but an American...There can be no divided allegiance here. Any man who says he is an American, but something else also, isn't an American at all. We have room for but one flag, the American flag... We have room for but one language here, and that is the English language... and we have room for but one sole loyalty and that is a loyalty to the American people."
Theodore Roosevelt 1907

 

[Tim M]

Ok, so maybe I do have something to add - My brother teaches in South Arkansas. He has many hispanics in his class, and all of them do not want to learn English or History(what he teaches). They speak spanish in the class room and to him, I'm assuming nothing good since he can't understand it. Aggravates and frustrates him. I told him to take spanish so he could understand them and some day, throw it back in their face . Anyway, I'm tired of This American and That American, why can't it be just American no matter what color your skin is, what FORMER nationality you are or where you were born. Now, back to our regularly scheduled progamming....