In Chapter 3, the author talks about how the government has set up a rule where, “[A]ll schools receiving federal funds are required to reach 100 percent passing rates for all student groups on state tests by the 2013-2014 school year.” If we look at our education system today, everyone knows that this goal would be impossible. In my opinion, to make a statement like this one seems pointless. With the problems such as budget cuts and drop out rates increasing, we are part beyond from this “goal”. When saying all student groups, it includes special education and bilingual students as well. This alone proves that there is a cap between the time frames in terms of the students learning abilities. Although many would agree that to know whether students are improving academically or not, it can easily be shown through standardize exams. However, there are many flaws under this rule that was set up by the “Adequate Yearly Process”. One obvious flaw would be not knowing what exactly happened that led to the academic downfall in certain schools. An example would be, lets say a school continues to fail on meeting the goals that was set by the AYP and federal funding is being cut. I do not see how by cutting one of the most important resources to a school would help the school improve. Instead of going through such direct measures, the government should analyze as to why the school seems to be behind, especially year after year. By doing so, the government can attack the heart of the problems instead of rushing into irrational decisions. I know that by setting a “standard goal” can give everyone an overview of what needs to be accomplished. However, it should be realistic. Instead of rushing and looking at the bigger picture, sometimes it is best to just focus on one problem at a time. I understand that it will be time consuming especially with the financial problems we have, but it would be more effective compared to what the government is doing now. Therefore, do you think that different class sizes and different number of students have an affect on the process as to how schools are doing?
One of the main focus that chapter 4 talks about is the lack of closeness between the public and government. Most importantly, the lack of parents’ involvement in their child’s education. I agree with this idea completely. I think at this point, no one really knows what is going on in the education system unless it is effecting them personally. The lack of acknowledgment in the education today is what causing more problems to rise. If you take a look at many schools, one can see that the people who are running the schools are businesses. Since schools are desperate for financial support, they seek funding from big corporate companies. In return, schools must allow advertisements be be placed all around schools. At this point, what once use to be the goals in education in not anymore. The purpose of providing education to all students and ensuring that children can live a better lifestyle have changed. Businesses such as pepsi and coke are using these schools as a way to advertise their products. This benefits them greatly because they are attracting a bigger market. Sadly, parents do not know about this because they are never involved. As a result, education has turned into one of the powerful resources of advertisements to large businesses. As schools are slowly becoming part of the business world, do you think the Board of Education is in favor of this?
