News Herald – Juliann Talkington
A Wednesday Associated Press article delivered the news in a brutal way.
An estimated 82 percent of U.S. schools could be labeled as “failing” under the nation’s No Child Left Behind Act this year…. The current law sets annual student achievement targets designed with the goal of having all students proficient in math and reading by 2014.
And a Miami Herald article didn’t mince words either.
Rather than trying to find a way to improve quality, the President and Congress are discussing changes to the law, so there are no penalties when students do not achieve basic proficiency in math and reading!
Wow!
Instead of changing the law, maybe we should ask why 82% of our schools are failing to provide kids with basic skills.
If hospitals had this type of record, 82 out of every 100 hospitals would provide inadequate care for children. And worse yet, of all the children treated at hospitals in the US less than 36 out of 100 would be given adequate treatment.
If even 5 out of 100 children were given poor treatment at a hospital, everyone would be up in arms. The national news media would provide coverage, management would be ousted, responsible individuals would be identified and arrests would be made.
Yet few people seem concerned about the problems at our schools. Is it because we don’t know or we don’t care?
Surely more than 36 out of every 100 parents want their kids to have basic reading and math skills.
So at least some of the responsibility must lie with the school system.
Some argue more money is necessary. This seems unlikely. The US spends more per child on education than most countries, yet US kids struggle to reach average proficiency in international testing.
It is time to face reality. Although it would be nice to continue to try to change the school system (as we have been for over 25 years), it is so bureaucratic and tied to special interest groups that real transformation is nearly impossible.
So as radical as it may sound, our only hope may be to privatize education. After all, we need to do whatever is necessary to provide our kids with a bright future.