Two words came to mind throughout my read this chapter: backwards and impersonal.
Backwards because it takes away from the true meaning of an education. Education consists of giving – and receiving – education, according to an array of different dictionaries. The idea that schools should be teaching toward a test takes away from the creativity and innovation of both the students and the teachers (which are interchangeable) in the classroom. Schools have to survive by teaching their children specific curriculum to pass certain tests but this only limits the abilities of our youngsters. It might be an accurate method of measuring the grade levels of the students, but every school is different, and for good reason. The whole system is backwards because the purpose of the education system is flawed. Everyone is a slave to the system instead of using their own imaginations.
I say impersonal for mostly the same reason. Everyone, every school essentially becomes a statistic instead of a living, breathing focal piece of the education system. For America to truly value their children, they need to listen to them, like Kozol said repeatedly throughout his book. If we listen to each other, I do not think we can go wrong. The system in place displays way to much power by the central government. The people in the schools that are teaching the curriculum need to be making these decisions on a situation by situation basis.
What NCLB really is, as the chapter explains, is segregation. Segregation of how one child did on a test score over another. Potential is something that cannot easily be measured and something that goes completely overlooked the NCLB legislation. High scorers on the test can learn from low test scorers and vice versa. No doubt about it.
Punishing the weak and favoring the poor is not a good policy. Inundating the struggling with programs, funding and support is the least we can do to give our children the best possible educations.
