NCLB has effectively stopped creative work within the class room. Though I understand the premise of NCLB, it is not designed in a way that meets the needs of individual students. That being said, no, the educational system is not effective, however the teachers are. So many teachers are working extremely hard to meet the needs of students under NCLB’s guidelines. I can’t tell you how many go above and beyond to teach our kids all that they need to know while attempting to teach a lot of parents what they need to do to help their children learn.

NO, we don’t need VOUCHERS and PRIVATE SCHOOLS. what good is that if the TEACHERS aren’t any better? Please. No, our education system isn’t effective. The problem is they “teach to the test”. What i mean by that is that all state *i am assuming here* have a “Basic Skills” Test. No child is also a reason. You have to “continue to improve”.. Well, once you reach 100 per cent, where do you go? No Child, while a good idea, isn’t practical. It needs to be fine tuned. You also have alot of kids with an “i don’t care” attitude and don’t understand the need for an education. Unfortunately, they will have to learn the hard way why they need it , unless Flippin burgers is goin to be their goal in life.

the University system, however, flourishes. Just look at all the students from other countries that come here because of the educational opportunities.

facts are facts.

What I see is it becoming less effective. With the emphasis on bringing up the slowest students, and equalization of the disabled students we now don’t spend the time with the good students. They notice it and are not as motivated to compete and do better.

We should have kept it the old way and then financed additional opportunities for those who were not keeping up, and those that need extra help to learn.

No it’s not. Kids today don’t need to “know” anything, they just have to “feel”. Their opinions are more important then their intellect. Truth is relative.

If they are self-motivated enough to learn on their own, that’s fine too. However, relying religiously on reason and facts when dealing with the world around them, is going to make it hard for these students to get in touch with their inner selves, or empathize with those less competent.

The elemenatry schools seem to be doing better off than high schools. However I believe that if elementary scores of the US are higher than many parts of the modern world and secondary are far lower, then this is a problem with soicioty, not just the educational system.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pfRUMmTs0ZA

Do you mean, can kids read write and do math or do you mean can they think?

It is my opinion that the intelligent learn to think and those less fortunate tend to learn reading, writing, etc. as a formula (memorization) I don’t believe this has changed any from the past.

With that said, what kids are exposed to (environment) bears on whether they learn either way. There are plenty of highly successful, intelligent people who didn’t complete high school and plenty of college grads that don’t no have to read or write let alone think.

I think that people need to learn to think not just memorize. My teacher is trying to teach us that right now. I also don’t like standardized tests.

No. We need vouchers and private schools.