The Most Intelligent Statement Of The Year

I'll make this simple. I read lots of blogs. Many of them are education-based.

I've read about NCLB from a variety of sources. I have formulated many opinions of my own, which I have written about here. I really do see both sides of the argument for and against NCLB as it is, and empathize with the struggles our country faces to do the best we can for our kids.

It's difficult to know what's best, IMO, because we cannot standardize people. I have always been against testing as a tool to determine if one is on par with students in their age group. Those who came up with this concept and practice were surely not very learned, but likely very successful the educational system in which we now struggle.

By far, the absolute best, most brilliant, insightful, comment I have ever read comes from Chris Lehman recent post, Why We Need A Vision. READ IT.

Here are the three sentences...

Most teachers went into the profession because they wanted to make a difference. But our [the United States] system is broken, and if you put good people in bad systems, the system will win more often than not. And as a result, we have lost the ability to negotiate the terms of our own profession. [Brackets mine for clarification]

I have enjoyed many of Chris's posts, and followed his NECC session, live, through Ustream. It was good great, but this moves well beyond anything anyone has said in the past 5 years in the context of public education in the United States under NCLB.


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