Newly Ancient

I have been following your blog for just about a week and find your insight and writing to be superb. Period (Not “…for a high school student.”) How can we reach the moon? Maybe we should talk with you and other students who are outstanding in different ways about what shaped their intellects and imagination, how their schools and communities helped, and/or how they became good thinkers despite adverse conditions.

@Deborah: Thanks for your kind words. I think students certainly can help to craft a strategy and message for reaching the “moon.” Unfortunately, any such attempt requires the support of teachers, administrators, and politicians. In the current economic client, politicians tend to attack education as an out-of-control expense rather than thinking about how to improve it. People once (and still do) say the same thing about space exploration… This approach is terribly short-sighted, as long-term improvement only comes through investment in the minds and innovations of the future. Once again, thanks for stopping by!

I just discovered your site — I look forward to reading more. Anyway, I’ve always found NCLB ridiculous for a number of reasons but mostly because all it did was add crap upon crap, which … well, take U.S. Government 101 and you’ll see is the basis of our federal government. Put simply, what was the point of having a federal mandate that is a) unfunded and b) left to the states to implement? If you’re so focused on having the whole country reach one standard, why would you have that standard reached 51 different ways? Letting the states figure this all out more or less destined this thing to fail. I probably echo a lot of comments you get by saying I wish I had students like you. Mine barely work to the SOL-set minimum. Keep at it!

@Tom: I absolutely agree: having states decide the standards is entirely paradoxical to the stated goal of having all states reach a common goal. We’re actually seeing states with poorer education systems get the top scores by lowering standards while states like Massachusetts struggle to meet the high goals they have set. A “reformed” NCLB would be funded and would share common standards—though said standards wouldn’t necessarily have to be exactly the same.

Thanks for stopping by!