(no subject)

[theweaselking]

School boards contemplating sueing US Government because 31% of American schools are failing No Child Left Behind standards on reading and math.

I'm conflicted. On one side, a great many students who can't read or do basic math are lazy, and have deliberately made themselves that way because it gave them more free time and they knew they would be passed anyway to avoid "damaging their self-esteem" by making them learn or stay behind. On the other hand, the teachers *do* have a point about ESL students being forced to take standardised tests in a language that they don't speak because they haven't had the opportunity to learn it.

Comments

[zenten.livejournal.com]

I see child lazyness as pretty much a constant, so if you're getting really crappy results in the US that you arn't getting other places, it's probably the system's fault.

[theweaselking.livejournal.com]

They're not specifically worse in the USA - a quick look at Canadian high-school English papers will disabuse you of that notion in about two pages. They are, however, notably *better* in, say, France, or Germany, or Japan - for native languages, of course.