Tom Vilsack: No Child Left Behind Leaves All Children Behind

[babylonsister]

http://www.openleft.com/showDiary.do?diaryId=1424

No Child Left Behind Leaves All Children Behind
by: Tom Vilsack
Tue Sep 18, 2007 at 11:55:02 AM EDT

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As Congress resumes its work after the August recess the nation's attention will be drawn to the civil war in Iraq and who the next Attorney General ought to be. However, perhaps the most important work for the long term good of the nation may well be the debate over the reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act.

Efforts will be made to improve on the effort of the Congress and the Bush administration when 5 years ago the Act was reauthorized under the banner of "No Child Left Behind". Unfortunately, the last effort left not just our children behind but our values as well.

What is the purpose of public education? Simple - every child should have what they need to realize their talents and to contribute in a meaningful way to their community and nation. Rather than a nation of average standardized test takers, our schools should help produce a nation of creative, dedicated, and engaged citizens.

For that to occur the frame of the ESEA must be changed. Instead of a frame built around student achievement based on a single, high-stakes, multiple choice test, we should advocate for a frame based on student demonstration of an array of 21st century skills: core competencies, ability to communicate, technological proficiency, problem solving, financial literacy, global awareness, community responsibility, and capacity to work within a team.

While the debate will swirl around funds, pay for performance compensation schemes, and growth models, we won't get it totally right unless we are clear about what the purpose should be of our system. We must be wary of the language of accountability that comes straight out of a corporate culture to one that speaks of shared responsibility. If we expect our children to get it right, we have to do so first.

[MatrixEscape]

1. It is good to see attention brought to the education situation.

I would also add that we add to the purpose of education, the ability to adjust to the real and obvious variations in what nature throws out. In other words, too much standardization and focus on a successful eduction being the same for everyones still manages to ostracize those who are unable to fit into the pre-defined mold, no matter how liberal or sophisticated that mold might try to be.

Rather than allow for an underclass of "freaks" who are simply wired different, (yet functional and mentally sound) we could do more to bring that factor to the surface and find ways to channel those young people into what might work for them with their proclivities and nature. That would be enlightened and show that the system is geared towards development and success on an individual basis rather than just being an influential cookie-cutter mold that creates "good citizens" who do what they are told and fit snugly somewhere into the expectations of the Ruling Class and corporations.

There are many examples of successful people, across the spectrum of talents and skills, who were loners, acted "funny", and were uncomfortable with groups, teams, and ordinary social trivia. Finding out more how a student is wired and what their way of experiencing reality is like, will certainly yield enough naturally social, team-players for tasks that require that. It will also expose that there are many differences in human beings and that strict standardization can be frustrating and harmful for people that are not of that way of being.

Otherwise, education is simply nothing more than a form of cultural propaganda designed to churn out Borg-like, obedient, collective-worshiping bots. Critical thinking and allowance for variations could bring a rich harvest of actualized adults into our mainstream. That might be very dangerous to the Status Quo, however.