American Education - Chapter 12

It seems to me that there is little cohesion within the American education system. The textbook lays out so many variables when it comes to a child's education. There are various methods pertaining to children who speak a different language than the school's majority language (immersion, bilingual schooling, and ESL). There are different methods and beliefs in terms of how a children should be taught and urged to master reading (phonics approach vs. whole-language approach). There are even vast differences in schools themselves, be it between the quality of learning materials, or the quality of the buildings themselves. One of the unifying factors of this all is No Child Left Behind's requirement for national standards. Teachers must make sure that their children are reaching the national standards; those well below and well above the standards are in fact being left behind. Certainly, not all children are alike, so various teaching methods are to be expected, and even encouraged. With that being said, I don't believe that they are to be encouraged prior to meeting and understanding any particular child. Methods of education should be decided upon once a teacher is aware of what will work best for a particular child. It's astounding to me that while No Child Left Behind is demanding national standards, teaching methods, school materials, and building quality cannot even be standardized first. I believe that if our public school system as a whole is going to continue to exist, we must first begin the process of providing more equality among schools. Until then, I don't believe there is any justification in attempting to standardize test results.