No Child Left Behind

It's a wonderful sentiment! But, it is also a sad reality that not all children are capable of keeping up. Some are simply destined to be left behind, regardless of the best efforts of parents, educators, and the Federal Government. Education is like any other competition, there are some winners and some losers. Just as all children are not equipped with the physical strength, speed and stamina to win a foot race, not all children are equipped to excel at intellectual endeavors. To increase the chances of the slower students reaching some acceptable level of academic achievement, our government has instituted an unrealistic policy of "No Child Left Behind". The implementation of this policy is simply nothing more than "special" education, and another unwarranted lowering of the educational standards by which we used to measure varying levels of achievement. We are falling short of much of the world in the areas of science and mathematics. Our educational system, with the able assistance of the Federal Government, has reduced the emphasis on what were once referred to as "the hard sciences", and insinuated classes on various "diversities" instead. Education is gradually being replaced by indoctrination.

Who pays the ultimate price for this folly? The high school graduates themselves, and the business world into which they are thrust, or the institutes of higher learning.

Businesses complain that high school graduates are not prepared to enter the work force, because they lack the basic skills to be successful. The business world must either "go begging" for acceptable employees, or invest large sums of money in remedial education for new hires, or 'in-source' employees from outside the country. Colleges have lowered the minimum acceptable SAT entry scores for certain "minority groups", and must provide even more basic 101-level (perhaps 100-level?) courses, to insure that many students stand even the slightest chance of completing their degree.

Potential employers want people who can do the job they are being paid to do. If the employees feel good about themselves that's an added bonus, but it's not what they're being paid for - ability is what they need to bring to the workplace. Whether or not Heather has six mommies, and Tommy has 3 dads doesn't mean diddly-squat to the people who pay the wages and salaries!
What they want, require, and deserve, is a good return on their investment in the employee.

All people are NOT created equal! Accept that as a fact, and perhaps we can get back in the education game. Only a few will be captains of industry, several will attain upper management positions, quite a few will be middle management, many will achieve supervisory status, and the vast majority will be production workers. Our society needs more blue collar workers than we do white collar workers. We need mechanics, police officers, military personnel, mail carriers, custodians, farmers, ranchers, sales associates, bus drivers, truckers, and technicians of all types. Our society needs them much worse than we need politicians, CEO's and CFO's. It is the production worker that keeps our country mobile, fed, healthy, entertained, and communicating! But, those production workers must have a practical education. They need to master those hard sciences in order to be effective in their chosen field(s) of endeavor!

But, complacency seems to be the motto of the majority of Americans. Social indoctrination is the order of the day, and education has been relegated to the category of "nice to have, if we can work it in". Nothing is free, and we will soon pay the price of complacency.