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columnist: Nicola M

Topic: Education
How the American Government is Destroying Education

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Federally-imposed standardized tests and regulations on education are responsible for the decline of quality in America's schools.

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by Nicola M
(Libertarian)
Wednesday, March 12, 2008

We are from birth unequal - this fact is inescapable. If this weren't so, we would all look exactly the same, we would all have the same parents with the same amount of money in their wallets. We would think the same thoughts and write the same words. To force equality is to go completely against the nature of what it means to be human. What the founding fathers were talking about was equality under the eyes of the law. Unfortunately, certain administrative officials of American government still aren't getting it - government with regards to education is still treating us as if we are the same.

For a nation repeatedly referred to as the world's last true superpower, our rapidly declining system of education sure doesn't show any evidence of this. Choked by standardized tests and a web of federal regulations such as the No Child Left Behind Act, our schools are doing the exact opposite of what these laws attempted to accomplish. Rather than flourishing, the quality of our education is deteriorating.

As a junior presently enrolled at a public high school, you can take it from me that this is a real danger to our nation, and something that should be addressed immediately, because the children in these schools are this nation's future.

Standardized tests and federal regulations seem altruistic at first, but are ultimately detrimental. What we study in school is designed solely to get children to pass these tests. If the test scores aren't high enough, the school district will receive less and less money, meaning less money for teachers and less money for a quality education, as well. This is just another way for the federal government to take more and more power away from the states and their people. Whoever controls the schools, controls the future. And these tests and regulations indirectly control what we learn in school, and what we do not learn in school. This wouldn't be a problem if it weren't for the fact that the nature of these tests and regulations can only lower the standards, instead of raising them like they ought to.

This is why we're taught to plug'n'chug in math and science classes, rather than learning concepts, which are much more valuable. This is why we spend years drilling the proper use of the comma, rather than working on developing actual writing skills.

And this is all, supporters of standardized education frequently claim, for the good of the whole.

In acts like No Child Left Behind, no child is left behind because the standards are lowered to accommodate them, and no child is left ahead because their watered-down education prevents them from learning anything useful beyond the realm of standardized tests.

Those who don't perform well in school aren't being swept into the cracks of academic squalor, as advocates of standardized education frequently argue. Neither do these students genuinely want to be there, for the most part. What is for the most part the case is the fact that these students must put forth a much greater effort than those who are naturally well-endowed to succeed academically. This means, lo and behold, that some will have to work harder than others. Welcome to the nature of life.

In fact, with the standards as low as they are, it's not that hard to scrape by anymore. The fact is that most are just apathetic. But the kids who do do well and work hard to get where they are do not deserve to have the quality of their education jeopardized by students who don't value their education.

Which makes me wonder why my education has to be solely designed to accommodate people who couldn't care less.

I don't deny the existence of students who try consistently hard but rarely improve and are constantly struggling. And I do recognize that help needs to be provided, because these people do deserve it. But help is a far, far cry from lowering the standards, which our government has chosen to do instead.

While I do remain sympathetic to those who struggle academically, the fact remains that no amount of government testing and federal funding is going to give them the encouragement they need to climb out of that crack, because more tests and test-based curricula can only marginalize those cracks by lowering the standards. And when the standards are lowered, everyone is affected. If we continue to level the playing field, not only will we be without cracks, but we will also be without mountains of academic excellence.

This is why we need to question the validity of compulsory education. While I wholeheartedly agree that education should be readily available to anyone, from any financial background, I do not think it absolutely necessary to force everyone to receive more than a basic education. There are more students who will decide not to go to college and learn a trade or immediately join the work force instead than the kids that do go on to college. These are students who would not benefit from higher-level education (such as high school), and are still absolutely necessary for a functioning society. In any society, there must be bricklayers. We need to realize that post-secondary school is not for everyone and stop agonizing over the numbers of students who do not attend college. We can no longer judge students who want to pick up trades and students who want to be nuclear physicists on the same scale, and we can no longer design our curricula around these judgments.

We need to allow the path to clear for students who are truly passionate about their education and its quality.

I don't want standards lowered to accommodate me. What I do want is to be able to look back on my life one day and say that I got to where I am now on my own, as much as possible. Maybe the other way is simpler, by the expense of everyone else's education and freedom, but I don't want it to be easy. Nothing worth doing is easy.

I guess what I'm asking for is independence. You'd think that'd be something you could find in America, but I guess things just aren't like they used to be anymore.

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2008 Nicola M, all rights reserved.
Published: Wednesday, March 12, 2008
Last modified: Wednesday, March 12, 2008

The views expressed in this article are those of Nicola M only and do not represent the views of Nolan Chart, LLC or its affiliates. Nicola M is solely responsible for the contents of this article and is not an employee or otherwise affiliated with Nolan Chart, LLC in his/her role as a columnist.

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