"Disastrous Consequences of No Child Left Behind"
Those were the frightening words used by Susan Goodkin and David Gold in their Washington Post article describing the way No Child Left Behind--the new educational law of the land--is leaving gifted children behind. They document the steady bleeding of the best and the brightest students from public schools as their parents place them in private schools.
Their actions are easy to understand. The new law essentially forces teachers to focus their efforts on bringing the lowest students to minimum proficiency. Just by itself, the ensuing neglect of the brightest students represents a massive problem. But things are even worse.
The focus on the lowest level children affects not only time, but also content. School days are taken up with basic drills in reading and math that offer nothing but boredom to the high-ability students.
Tragically, these problems were predictable--and predicted, and they have been reported since as early as 2003. From the parents' point of view, the only solution is PRIVATE SCHOOL where none of the strictures of No Child Left Behind are in effect.
From the nation's point of view, the term "disastrous" is far too mild to convey the crisis that this situation represents. Any citizen who cares about our country's future should get involved in any and every way possible so that we can begin to turn this catastrophic situation around.
