Tag Archives: No Child Left Behind Act

Saving America:  Restoring Education

Posted on by

Author:  R. Alan Harrop, Ph.D. 

Having educated, patriotic citizens is essential to the survival of America as we have known it in our lifetimes. When speaking about the most crucial things needed to save our Republic, George Washington stated, “A primary object should be the education of our youth in the science of government.  In a republic, what species of knowledge can be equally important? And what duty more pressing than communicating it to those who are to be the future guardians of the liberties of the country?” Let’s take a look and see how we are doing.

In spite of the so-called “No Child Left Behind Act” passed by Congress during the first years of this century, educational achievement has been declining–not improving. In fact, this is the first time in our country’s history where children’s academic achievement is lower than their parents! This is in spite of billions of taxpayer dollars spent on laptops, smart phones and screen learning. Today, 55% of school children spend at least four hours of classroom time on screens and 27% spend at least five hours of classroom time. I can remember about ten years ago that one of the Craven County Commissioners expressed how proud he was that every student received a laptop funded by the county taxpayers. Of course, good intentions do not guarantee good results.

Some might argue, of course, that computer generated learning is preparing children for the modern world. Test scores in reading, math, science and spelling refute that argument. What is critical is how much of the information in the mode of instruction actually is absorbed and expands a child’s thinking and reasoning ability. Why learn arithmetic and multiplication tables when calculators are readily available? Why have human teachers when AI instruction is rapid and readily available? By the way, the decrease in academic achievement is occurring not just in our country but in most other Western countries, some of whom are taking steps to return to more traditional teaching using paper, pencils and teacher instruction. AI gets smarter; we get dumber. I noticed recently that when I initiate an email, I am asked if I want an AI program to assist! Teachers now do not know if a written assignment submitted by a student was written by that student or is an AI derivative. Teachers should go back to requiring the student to hand write the assignment while they are in the classroom. One problem is that very few public schools still teach cursive writing. The professional teacher’s associations will object, but we need to return to instructional techniques that worked for centuries and get the computers and smart phones out of the classroom.

The point that George Washington was making in the quote above needs to be taken seriously. Our schools do not offer sufficient instruction in the value and success of the free enterprise system and the necessity of retaining a representative republic to safeguard our liberties. The last hundred years have clearly proven the unworkability of Marxist inspired socialism and communism. They always produce lowered standards of living, and authoritarian governments that deprive people of their freedom. Yet we have millions of people who have been through our public school systems that don’t realize that Marxist principles are anti-American and vote for people like Mamdani in New York City which will be their undoing and the destruction of our country. A recent survey showed that the majority of high school students could not differentiate a representative republic from a democracy, and that an alarming 62% Americans aged 18 to 29 had a favorable view of socialism! Not good.

I have been and remain an advocate for school choice, including private and homeschools. Anyone who resists supporting school choice in favor of the public school system as it is currently functioning is contributing to the demise of our country. Parents should be able to select the education that agrees with their principles and values. Homeschooling should be encouraged and funded just like public or private schools. We need to get patriotism and traditional learning back in our educational system.

The Questionable Roots of Common Core

Posted on by

On November 14th, the Cato Institution posted an article about the waivers given in the “No Child Left Behind” program. The waivers were issued very selectively and were used as a means to get states to approve Common Core educational standards.

The article reports:

If the outcry over unilateral executive moves we’ve seen over the last few years remains consistent, Obamacare and immigration are likely to keep sucking up most of Republicans’ attention and the media’s coverage. But just as sweeping have been executive waivers issued from the hated No Child Left Behind Act – really the most recent reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act – that have been instrumental in connecting numerous states to, among other things, the Common Core national curriculum standards. And yesterday, the Education Department issued guidance offering states the chance to obtain waivers – if they do the administration’s bidding, of course – lasting well into the term of the next president: the 2018-19 school year.

These waivers are almost certainly illegal – even a Congressional Research Service report often cited to suggest the opposite says they are unprecedented in scope and, hence, an untested case – and even if they are not deemed technically illegal, the reality is they still amount to the executive department unilaterally making law. NCLB does grant the Secretary of Education the authority to issue waivers from many parts of the Act, but it grants no authority to condition those waivers on states adopting administration-preferred policies. Indeed, as University of South Carolina law professor Derek W. Black writes in a recent analysis of waivers, not only does NCLB not authorize conditional waivers, even if a court were to read any waiver authorization as implicitly authorizing conditions, the actual conditions attached – “college- and career-ready standards,” new teacher evaluations, etc. – fundamentally change the law. In fact the changes, Black notes, are essentially what the administration proposed in its 2010 “blueprint” to reauthorize NCLB. And quite simply, the executive fundamentally changing a law is not constitutional.

The federal government is now taking direct power over what our children learn. That is not only unconstitutional–it is dangerous.

The Educational Aspect Of The 2014 Mid-Term Election

Posted on by

Yesterday The Daily Signal posted an article about the education policies of the winners and losers in Tuesday’s election. As parents become more aware of the problems with a federally controlled education system, they are voting for the candidates who will give them more freedom and more choice in matters involving their children’s education.

The article cites some of the candidates and their positions on education:

Charlie Crist, running as a Democrat, lost his election bid for Florida governor to incumbent Republican Rick Scott. Crist supported the state’s teachers’ union and the Florida School Boards Association’s campaign , to stop Florida’s tuition tax credit scholarship program. The program, which enables nearly 69,000 low-income children to attend a school of choice, is the nation’s largest choice program.

David Figlio of Northwestern University, who has evaluated the scholarship program on an annual basis for the state, found that “scholarship students are by and large the ones who struggled the most at the public schools they left behind, but that they are now, on average, making the same academic gains as students of all income levels nationally.”

Scott’s victory is a victory for supporters of school choice in the Sunshine State.

Similarly, in Wisconsin, Republican Scott Walker won his re-election bid for governor running, in part, on a platform of expanding school choice.

Voters voted for candidates who opposed Common Core and supported state and local control of education.

The changes in the leadership of the Senate Committee dealing with education will make a difference:

Sen. Lamar Alexander, R-Tenn., will take the helm of the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee and is likely to work to reauthorize No Child Left Behind. Although Congress should pursue policies that would allow states to completely opt out of No Child Left Behind, as the Academic Partnerships Lead Us to Success, or APLUS Act, does, a potential reauthorization of NCLB would provide an opportunity to move the nation’s largest K-12 education law in a more student-centered direction.

Sen. Tim Scott, R-S.C., already has introduced the CHOICE Act, which would allow states to have Individuals with Disabilities Education Act funds follow children to the private schools of their parents’ choice. Rep. Todd Rokita, R-Ind., has introduced a companion measure in the House. A similar approach to Title I funding for low-income school districts also has been advanced in the House by Rep. Luke Messer, R-Ind.

…The Higher Education Reform and Opportunity Act—or HERO Act— introduced by Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah, and Rep. Ron DeSantis, R-Fla., would empower states to allow any entity to credential courses, which could pave the way for a more flexible college experience for students and make possible a dramatic reduction in college costs.

It’s time for parents and local school boards to take back education. The newly-elected Senate may provide that opportunity. However, the corporate and political interests that are supporting Common Core and the new Advanced Placement U.S. History course will strongly oppose any move in that direction. It won’t be easy to get this done, but it is very doable.

Who Is Actually Running Things?

Posted on by

Last Monday, Heritage.org posted an article about Congress. It wasn’t the usual article blaming Congress for the various ills of the country–it was an article noting the declining power of Congress–they’re giving their power away!

The article cites a number of examples:

Consider several of the items Washington Post columnist Ruth Marcus listed in a recent column headlined, “Losing the art of legislating as John Dingell retires”:

This is not how our government is supposed to work–it is rule by agencies in the executive branch–not three branches of government balancing each other.

 

Enhanced by Zemanta