Commentary for "From My Point of View..."

My last blog entry will be a commentary for "From My Point of View..."'s blog posting called Unemployment Bailout. I like to hear that the United States, as a governmental body, is attempting to focus on better education for the children of America. Even though there will be many difficulties in trying to reform education in the U.S., I think the Obama administration is taking a step in the right direction. I do wonder, as well, on where the funding will be coming from and what other parts of the political system will have to suffer in part. Additionally, I feel there should be different ways that we can give and take from different areas financially, to support and please the greatest amount of people possible.

Children are the future of this country and I feel it is important to provide them with the best educational resources possible and to allow everyone a opportunity to succeed and live the "American dream."

Blog Stage 7 Original Commentary #2

This blog is going to expand from our participation discussion regarding standardized testing as a requirement for the "No Child Left Behind" program within our national education system. "No Child Left Behind" is an act put into place by national legislature which requires states to create assessments of basic skills in each grade level if the states want to receive federal education funding.

The standardization of testing makes sense because as a nation, we have been lagging in education compared to those of countries at the same level of development. We lack in technologies and sciences especially. The only real way to see if our students are learning basic skills is to test them for those skills in tests that everyone in the region has to take. This allows comparison for those within the same area. However, the point of "No Child Left Behind" is not to be able to surpass other nations' students in knowledge and skill, however great that may be. The "No Child Left Behind" Act is to support each and every child and student in the United States. That, indeed, no one will be left behind. Everyone deserves knowledge and the opportunity to receive and learn it. Our nation and our government, is simply ensuring that for everyone, or at least making a means to try to attain it. Through the standardized testing system of "No Child Left Behind," the federal government is able to see which regions need more resources and better teachers. It helps the national government see where their resources are being well used and where students are struggling the most.

There are flaws because teachers in some areas simply begin to teach for the test itself rather than teaching the wide-ranging curriculum. However, the basic skills necessary for the state-standardized tests, I feel are necessary in life as well. But, ultimately, the government is pursuing an act that allows for the greatest amount of students and children in the United States to attain an education and an opportunity to become more successful.

Blog Stage 6

In Dense America, I read a blog posting which spoke about our nation's education system and where the faults are. First of all, I do agree that our education system needs some sort of reform. There are vast inequalities across the nation and even from city-to-city from the same region. Qualities of education, teachers, resources, and motivation change drastically when comparing areas.

Now I do agree, also, that most of the fault lies in the administration, however, I do not want to dismiss teachers or students from any blame. Students are responsible for pursuing their education and to work hard; teachers declared a duty when they took their jobs to properly educate the future of America.

"No Child Left Behind" seems limiting in all the ways mentioned in "Reforming our Education." However, in Texas we already had state-wide standardized testing before the legislation passed in 2001. I remember taking TAAS tests in elementary school before the TAKS tests came out. It was in elementary school that we practiced the standardized testing questions more, and that is a crucial time in a child's education. There were many students who did not really need the practice and others who needed it desperately. Standardized testing does alter methods of teaching, curriculum, and the urgency with which teachers teach at the primary levels, but if we did not have standardized testing, there would be students who would not have basic reading comprehension, writing composition, and math skills; there are still students who lack those skills. I understand that standardized testing is not the most efficient way of measuring learning, but with the growing number of students around the nation, it is difficult to come up with another alternative.

There are a wide variety of students in our country. As a whole, American teens may straggle behind other countries educationally. "No Child Left Behind" sacrifices our average educational level by providing everyone a chance. Additionally, American teens are allowed to participate in many more extracurricular activities beginning at a young age. In other countries, social life and education is seen differently.

Administration should re-evaluate how funding is distributed for educational purposes. The method that is used is not effective because usually those schools that are scoring poorly need more/better resources than those who are scoring highly. Additionally, I think administration should take a look at the qualifications to be a teacher again. Many teachers I have had were very qualified to do their job, and did it well. However, there were always those who were not so good and did not necessarily seem qualified to teach the subject. I lived in a fairly nice area and know that areas that were not so good always had trouble keeping teachers, much less being able to convince qualified ones to come.

The quote at the conclusion of the posting is clever. It is a nice reminder that education is everything around us, not necessarily just school.