No Child Left Behind???

Oh my goodness!

I heard a story on the radio about No Child Left Behind, and I got so upset!

There are many reasons No Child Left Behind (NCLB) upsets me. You have probably heard of many of the “unexpected results” of NCLB such as “teaching to the test” where teachers spend a great deal of time teaching what they know will be on the test to the exclusion of other subjects or not covering all of the coursework one year so that they can show a huge improvement the next year.

But the thing that really got me upset with this report was the assumption that every child in the country should be taught the same thing at the same age.

Now, I know that is the basis of the school system…everyone in 4th grade memorizes multiplication tables; everyone in 3rd grade learns cursive writing. But something in the report just really struck a cord with me and made me realize how unrealistic the premise is.

For those of you who are parents, especially of multiple children, let’s take walking for example. Children learn to walk around a year old. Some learn earlier. Some learn later. During our play-date days, we would compare notes. One of the kids learned to walk at 7 months and one didn’t walk until 18 months.

All of this is considered normal. One thing that we all agreed on is that you cannot make a child learn to walk. He or she has to want to walk. I know, especially with first-born children, we tend to hold their hands and try to walk them around. But if they are not ready, willing, and able, it is a futile effort.

It was so funny to watch my sister try to teach her baby to crawl. She would show him, get him in position, and even try to give him a little nudge in the right direction. He would just plop back down. But, of course, when he was ready he was all over the place.

The same thing goes for potty training. How many parents tear their hair out trying every tactic in the book to get their children to use the toilet? Is it the final tactic that worked or that the child was finally ready?

Of course, with potty training there is more of a timetable involved, since they cannot go into certain classes if they are not potty trained. This puts even more pressure on. And how do you feel if you make a mistake and someone is in your face rubbing it in, making you feel bad about it? I think the more pressure there is, the later it will actually happen…performance anxiety.

Then around the magical age of 5 we assume that all children are now going to be ready, willing, and able to learn everything at the same time.  Seems kind of silly doesn’t it?

While I was doing my research on homeschooling, I found that some children learned to read at 3 and others not until 12. And when the 12 year old learned to read, he (typically a he) jumped to grade level reading very quickly.

What would happen to that boy in school? Put in special classes? Given extra help/pressure? Labeled in some way?

There was nothing “wrong” with him. He just wasn’t ready. And when he was ready, he took off!

I believe it is the same with every subject. If the child is not ready, willing, and able to learn, there is not much you can do. Teachers cannot stuff the knowledge in the students’ heads, though there are many times they probably wish they could. They can introduce the material, but the student has to make it stick. Learning is an active process.

I find that with our history at home. We spent the last year studying American History. At the end of the year, I went through the presidents asking my children if they had heard of them or not. My son said he had never heard of Lyndon Johnson even though we had spent two days covering him less than a month before! I just can’t shove it in there.

I think the whole premise of our education system needs to be questioned. What do children need to know and when do they need to know it? It is a much deeper question than a scope and sequence can cover. The answers are going to vary based on the child.

Can the school system accommodate that? What would that look like?