The No Child Left Behind Act: Bringing Down the American Education System

The No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) is bringing down the American education system for the sake of academic competition with other countries that use better methods. This country hasn’t changed its methods in decades. By addressing different aspects of the problem, it can be solved more efficiently and quickly. Three different aspects will be addressed here: what the American education system already does, what other countries are doing (as well as cultural differences), and what we should be doing. What we should be doing is a general combination of what other successful countries are doing, taking advice from experienced educators, and abolishing stressful, unnecessary practices.

The No Child Left Behind Act was passed in 2001. It was not written by teachers, educators, or parents, but by legislators who did not have experience in education. The act was written because the government felt that students were not proficient enough in basic skills, such as reading level, fundamental math skills, as well as other subjects. The writers believed that every person should have the same education, which would produce the same outcome in each child. NCLB changed school curriculums to focus on their standardized tests, which would ultimately evaluate how well the teachers, school districts, and students are performing. Arne Duncan, an American education administrator, believes that “…NCLB holds all students to the same, challenging standards…” is the best way to explain the program in an unbiased perspective. To put it more harshly, “No Child Left Behind is a test-and-punish scheme that fails to deal with real problems in schools,” says Michelle Rhee, a chancellor in Washington, D.C. “[It] ends up dumbing down educational quality.”

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