How is it that there is so much governmental control in the US? (NCLB)?

Question

I don't live in the US so maybe I'm not understanding what's going on exactly. But I was under the impression that the US prided itself on being a free country, with fewer government 'entangelments' than others. Yet the federal government has the No Child Left Behind law and I just saw a news video of how, in some cities, *mayors* are taking control of school systems. (This would be seen as a complete abuse of power here, someone acting as benevolent dictator.) The NCLB site says that the law gives "More freedom for States and communities", but it's just propaganda, isn't it? If a single person (the mayor) can decide he's in charge of the schools in 'his' city and if the federal government is restricting funds because schools aren't meeting certain standards, how is this an expression of freedom? Or does 'more freedom' mean that mayors are actually free to do this? What about the freedom for the schools? What happened to "with liberty and justice for all"? Please enlighten me!

Just to give some details:

In 2000, the mayor of NYC, Michael Bloomberg, got rid of the local school boards and replaced it with a city-based department of education. He's appointed a Chancellor as head of the department. There are others who are thinking of doing something similar.

Answer 1

Duane...typical answer from an uneducated Republican. If your spelling were better and you made some more sense, maybe people would have understood your argument. I am so sick of listening to morons say "it is the Democrat's fault" or "it is the Republican's fault". In reality, the situation in America is probably more in line with the other two posts. We are a proud nation and we are tired of people talking down to us. We know our education system has many faults but, I assure you, it has nothing to do with the 1st Amendment of the Constitution being interpreted as it has been. It has more to do with political rhetoric and citizen laziness than anything else. Politicians are experts at talking a great talk but very few of them can walk the walk! It does not matter what party they are from, a vast majority of politicians are corrupt, lazy, ignorant, and only care about themselves and their own pocketbooks. If they truly cared about the American public they would not constantly think they need payraises and they would not constantly ignore the voices of their constituencies.

Further, NCLB is a flawed policy. It is a joke, created by a Republican President who thinks he knows something about education. In truth, the politicians that created NCLB did not take one piece of advice from educators who KNOW what they are doing. They ignored the professionals and experts in the field and went on their merry way with what they thought was right (not one of them was, is, or ever will be an effective teacher!). The NCLB law was based almost solely on the plans put in place in the late 1990's by the Houston Public Schools. The first Secretary of Education under GWB was the Superintendent of Houston at one point. We have since, in the field of education, found the Houston model to be flawed. The model was expanded to Texas and then, under Bush, became the NCLB with few changes. Since this shift to National Policy, researchers have been examining the data from Texas to see how effective these ideas have been previous. Unfortunately for Republicans and the few Democrats that supported NCLB, the findings are not good. The system of educational reform in Texas was flawed. Unlike the current NCLB, Texas found success by keeping data from entering the data set. Students who were classified as Learning Disabled on any level were not required to take the Texas standardized tests. Further, the TASS for graduatation from high school was given to 10th graders. There are documented cases of students being held back in 9th grade, taking the 10th grade curriculum, then being promoted to 11th grade and not having to take the test. This was done because teachers feared the student would bring down their grades.

A system of accountability is required but NCLB is not it. It has nothing to do with Democrats or Republicans it has to do with ignorant politicians that think they know what they are doing without having all the facts. Prayer does not belong in schools? You know how funny that is? As a teacher and a PhD student in educational policy and leadership studies I must say there will ALWAYS be prayer in school. The catch is, teachers and administrators can not START the prayer. It has to be student led. Stopping student led prayers is actually a violation of civil liberties and students can and have sued over this. Further, I taught in public schools in the south and in the midwest. In the districts I taught, every high school football game is started with a prayer and noone seems to care or be upset about it! The only places you seem to see a lot of hubabaloo is on the West Coast where everyone likes to complain about something that they feel is done to them as a wrong. Look at where the challenges to God in all things government have come from? With the exception of Alabama having to remove the 10 commandments from the courthouse, the cases about "In God we Trust" and "Under God" come from California!

Answer 2

Well, it's not like a mayor can just "take over" a school and do whatever he wants with it. I don't think we should let some schools (say, in poor areas) fall below standards in the name of freedom.

We are a proud country, and we are free to come and go, and to say what we want. That doesn't mean we just all run around like crazy...we have to have structure and organization in order to function and be safe.

I just don't understand why we are criticized so much by other countries, and yet they don't waste any time asking for money whenever they need it. And when foreigners come here, I sure don't see them complaining about all the freedoms they enjoy here--and even if they aren't citizens, they want--and expect--all the rights and benefits of a U.S. citizen.

Answer 3

It probably has to do with the "Silent Majority" being too silent.
Maybe we should be telling our political leader how we feel, instead of just telling each other at home in our living rooms.

The politicians have been promising to "improve" the schools every time they run for office ever since I can remember. Some of their new "improvements" seem to be more like experiments!
Some kids have so much homework to do, they don't have any time left to just be kids!
No wonder people are starting to home school their children.

Answer 4

liberty and justice for all went out the window years ago you got to realize that for 50 years the democrates helped wittle away our nations morality 1) helped take prayer out of school 2) helped install activist judges onto the supreme court , our constitution states that congress can pass no law preventing the free expression of anyone's religion but these activists seem to think it means that only those without religion are free to express it anyways this country has changes much sinse the 70's thanks to the globalists one world government its coming fast !!