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NCLB appears to be a battle of bureaucracies mediated by statisticians - a recipe for endless debate without real change in the methods of education. Sadly it destroys the motivation of both teachers and students.

My public education in Arizona was a tedious and alienating exercise in forced feeding of information with dubious real world value that took all the natural joy of discovery out of learning.

While attending Central Oregon Community College as an adult I worked a summer in the math/computer lab which was based on taking a series of incremental competency tests. The students were mostly kids fresh from high school that failed the entrance math test and needed to pass the class to get into COCC for fall term. The class had a suggested schedule; but the kids could move as fast as they could learn the materials and pass the quizzes and final test. I have seldom seen such motivated students - working hard so they could get done and begin enjoying their summer proper.

If students were allowed to demonstrate incremental learning and move at their own pace and teachers were allowed to focus on just those students that were having difficulty learning a subject, education could once again become an enjoyable and naturally motivated life-long process.

posted 4 years, 9 months ago
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