Budget needs to ensure “No School Left Behind”

Coming at a time of wide public concern about the state of education in the United States, No Child Left Behind aimed to standardize the education system in every public school in America, making sure that no child is left behind. In a foreword by President Bush who brought in this legislation in 2001 he says, ‘If we succeed in educating our youth, many other successes will follow throughout our country and in the lives of the citizens.’

The effectiveness of No Child Left Behind and its measures, however, don’t appear to live up to its ruling, a major concern is that it does in fact stunt students learning because the use of standardized tests means teachers can simply teach a formula and get students to apply it over again, “teach to the test”. NCLB is also primarily concerned with students being ahead in their reading, math and science which doesn’t allow much for creativity and talent, surely however these are also an important part of a child’s primary education.

The policy needs money if it is really going to work believes Democratic Senator Edward Kennedy, poor schools with little funds need extra help if they are going to work, the size and distribution of the NCLB fund is something Bush is harshly criticized for, “Struggling schools can only do so much on a tin-cup budget”, Kennedy said.

I think that if NCLB really is going to succeed in educating the future, the individuality of the children it affects needs to be taken into consideration, not all children are ever going to be at the same level and some leave way for creativity in education needs to be allowed. For NCLB to be implemented properly the government needs to ensure that “No School is left behind” in terms of budget and funding.