Finally, education has challenges

It looks like the No Child Left Behind act is working, despite the controversy that followed when it was implemented in 2002. It should also be noted that students are improving on the Maryland School Assessment tests, despite the fact that Governor Martin O’Malley (D) wanted to push state school superintendent Nancy Grasmick out of the door, earlier this year. My how the tables have turned.

Scores are up twenty percent in reading and math since 2003 and the minority achievement gap is narrowing, despite a headline in The Gazette proclaiming, “Blacks, Hispanics left behind in school, report says” from a couple of weeks ago. The fact is The Baltimore Sun and The Washington Post, parent publication of The Gazette, report that Black and Hispanic students are in fact NOT too far behind their white counterparts.

I believe that these significant gains, especially in majority Black Baltimore City and Prince George’s County, are due to the fact that for the first time in recent memory (if ever,) our public education leaders are being challenged to give our kids the best education possible. They are no longer allowed to let students linger in limbo and float through the K-12 education process.

When this law was first implemented; there were widespread calls of bloody murder. Some teachers called the law unfair. Looking back, one would have to ask in retrospect how can a teacher challenge their students when they haven’t been challenged themselves? I feel that teachers not being challenged to educate kids are part of the reason why the American education system has not been as good as it was.

This cannot be any more evident than in the school system of our neighbors, the District of Columbia. This system for as long as I can remember has been a constant example of how NOT to run a school system. They also had good gains on their assessment tests this year in addition to having a committed executive and a schools chancellor that is shaking up a department that has long been run for too long by cronies, bureaucrats and overall lazy adults. Capital City is now on the right path.

This federal initiative gives educators a choice, educate our kids properly or tell us a reason why you should continue to teach at your school while we give parents an option to send their kids to better schools in the system. For once, someone said that children are capable of learning.

Is this a perfect law? Not by any means, there is no such thing as a perfect law (unless we are talking about the Bible.) As a matter of fact, if you hear another politician referring to any future legislation as perfect, they are very, very hopeful. But for our purpose in this column, No Child Left Behind is not perfect.

While it focuses on the basics (reading, writing, math and science) it ignores other areas to balance education. The dummying down of physical education has developed a generation of fat kids. McDonald’s does not make kids fat. It is the combination of McDonald’s and lack of physical activity that makes kids fat. Changing from french fries to apple slices will not make kids magically skinny. You need to let them run around outside till they fall asleep. Leaving out the arts is also a grave mistake that has happened. No arts means no creativity, which is how many of the innovations we take advantage of today were created. Someone had to design what a television or even how a computer looks.

Bottom line, teachers’ challenged under NCLB is a good thing. They can now transfer that energy to students and motivate them to be successful. Every teacher who contributed to a successful year should be congratulated and thanked.