Few can argue against the idea of not allowing our schools to leave children behind and thus giving up on their value to society. Indeed, it is a noble idea to think our education system is currently capable of meeting the needs of every school aged child in our country, making it nearly impossible to leave behind the skills and talents of every American student. However, before establishing the No Child Left Behind (NCLB) Act, it would have been wise if our leaders had seen to it to put in place the necessary money, man power, and construction of an educational system capable of such a task.
How many publicly controlled organizations meet all of the needs of the people they serve? Does our health care system do this? What about law enforcement? How many of our elected officials meet the needs of all of their constituents? Expecting schools to do this is not fair, especially since more schools are being expected to do what was once, and still should be, the job of parents.
Aren’t parents suppose to meet the needs of their children before schools do? It’s called responsibility, something too many Americans have become too good at not accepting. NCLB gives adults, and teens for that matter, permission to bring children into this world and then wash their hands of their parental responsibilities while also allowing them to blame our schools when their kids turn out a mess. Thanks to NCLB, schools have now become increasingly more convenient excuses for what is all too often parental failure.
If NCLB is such a wonderful concept, why not broaden it to include a college education at public expense for everyone? After all, a high school education does a person little good these days so why not really go the distance to ensure success for everyone? And after a guaranteed college education, maybe our government can ensure job placement within our field of study while also tossing in housing, health care, and the freedom to do as we please without risk of consequence.
No Child Left Behind looks like a good idea but when broadened to a No Life Left Behind, it amounts to nothing more than an attempt to guarantee an equal life rather than an equal opportunity while in the process, allowing us to avoid responsibility. It almost sounds like a sociopolitical system that ends in “ism.”
Rather than assigning schools blame, our government would be better off setting them up for success so that our children can succeed. They should invest more money into classrooms and less on stealth bombers so that teachers can be hired and class sizes can be reduced. They should provide greater incentives for the wealthy to donate money to public schools instead of private universities. They would require housing developers to build new schools to help ease our urban sprawl rather than burden the tax payers. And they should require parents to be more directly involved in the education of their children rather than encourage the current curb side drop off and pick system in place.
Once all of this is in place, it becomes quite reasonable to expect our schools to meet the needs of all our children. However, the success of public schools requires public support and not merely public expectation. If we really do not want to leave any child behind, then it is time for total buy in to a new education system rather than trying to maintain the over burdened one we currently have.
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