Some Children Pushed Aside

The discussion of NCLB and restructuring of schools is not my forte, but it is something I now have an opinion about. The fact that some schools get the mushroom treatment is somewhat depressing. The future of young people in america depend on good leadership and stable, nurturing environments. Poverty stricken urban zones and crime ridden cities are not nurturing or stable environments. I grew up in a rural area, so I do not truly know the "difficulties" that are associated with growing up in a urban area. I can tell you my school system had money pumped into like crazy. I can tell you it still sucked and had bad teachers. I can agree that change is good, but at what price? The fact that schools constantly failing probably do not have sufficient funds to support their students and help them achieve what they want to. Yet, what happens if the student body doesn't care? If a teacher settles for mediocrity or failure? If the environment does not breed safety, progress and support for its students? Then what can you do?  Nothing.  If the effort or strength to support change is not there, how will anything vary? Throwing money at a problem doesn't work, it just fuels the fire. The notion that  US school systems are worse than most first world countries is staggering. This isn't because we don't have the money to support it, we literally just haven't put enough effort in. Getting to my opinion on the subject, if people actually cared and put in the effort to change schools they would. Yet, the reason why decent change has not rolled around yet is because there is not enough force behind the effort. Of all the changes in history, whether it be suffrage or basic human rights, nothing has come around from just throwing money at it. Do wars fight themselves without money? No, they fuel them. School systems now are unbalanced with too many students, not enough money, or something in between. The chance of finding balance in a system that is plagued by underwhelming effort is impossible the way I see it. I agree heavily with recreating school systems and start from the bottom up with hope and the chance of growth on the horizon.  The discussions from the issue provided me with a background to create an opinion that is reasonable and also based on fact.  In all, I do not agree with pumping money into schools that are failing and will constantly fail when effort is not applied. The fact that starting with a new slate could help a lot, doesn't mean it will work out in the end. I feel that school systems are broken and the laws in place do not help students become the adults they want to or could be with proper knowledge for the future. If I did not state my opinion before accurately, it is that a failing school will probably still fail and that a new school has the same chance to fail as well. Nothing will be changed without effort and a proper environment for students to learn. Both of the articles discussed this and both agreed that things can change, yet only small amounts of good change actually occurred.  

Sincerely,

Bryan Molyneux

P.S.- I hope this is what we were supposed to write about...