When I think of “no child left behind,” I visualize children who are about to fall off some precipice of failure being hauled up to a higher standard of achievement.
Apparently, I was wrong. A high school principal in Santa Ana asked teachers to reconsider the failing grades of nearly 100 students so that the school could meet the standards of the federal No Child Left Behind Act. I guess this is proof that, far from actually filling these students with enough knowledge to pass on their own ability, this school official was comfortable with simply padding the numbers so it would appear that no child would be left behind.
It’s no wonder that we’re seeing graduates with phony diplomas who are full of themselves and are not coping well in the real world, where they actually have to achieve something. Dr. Mel Levine at the University of North Carolina Medical School said, "We’re seeing an epidemic of people who are having a hard time making the transition to work—kids who had too much success early in life and who’ve become accustomed to instant gratification." Could he also be referring to those "successful" kids who were handed a high school diploma they didn’t earn?
But nothing compares with the story that recently appeared in the L.A. Times about a local high school that threw themselves a big celebration because most of its freshmen passed their classes. Now a private pat on the back for encouragement would seem more appropriate in view of the fact that this is not an objective success story. This is more of a good start in the right direction toward a goal worthy of celebrating, such as everyone graduating with honors.
The school seemed to have accomplished this feat, not with a higher bar, but with lowered expectations, which makes their celebration almost embarrassing to read. First, they went from six classes a day to four longer periods. They shortened their semesters to allow students to take 16 classes a year instead of 12. Lest you think this is to challenge them academically, these additional classes gave students more chances to retake a failed subject.
Is this America’s idea of "no child left behind?" How many times will we allow a student to retake algebra in one year before we realize that it is the administrators who are cheating? This is truly a numbers game and has nothing much to do with genuine achievement that will benefit the student population in the work force. Because high school diploma in tow or not, it won’t take long for an employer to assess how ill-equipped their candidates are for even an entry-level position.
The title of the article read "9th Grade Class Gets ‘A’ for Effort." But without an “A” for actual achievement, this story says it all about kids who think they deserve high praise and recognition for just trying.
You have to give credit, though, to those administrators who are fudging the numbers to suit their own self-serving goals. They haven’t just tried to implement new math. To them, two and two really is five.
