ATLANTA—“No Child Left Behind” and “Race to the Top” are educational policies put into place by the government as “reform” measures. Actually these programs were designed to eliminate public education. They were designed to privatize the public school system. Competition and individualism predominates the capitalist society. A “race” denotes winners and losers and “No Child Left Behind” mandated “average yearly progress” of each school. Thus, in both policies, some schools become “failing” schools. The students feel like they are failures, thus there are more dropouts.
Now, with the economy declining, and the dwindling prospect of our youth ever having a job due to the electronics revolution, there is no need to guarantee young people a quality education. Education has always been the basis to prepare students for the job market, but there are no jobs.
In the 1980’s the Metro Atlanta schools experienced the missing and murdered children’s situation in which every school was locked down, every teacher and other school employees kept constant lookouton the students to make sure they were safe. It was such a horrible time in Atlanta’s history.
Now some schools, particularly high schools, look like prisons with burglar bars and a police officer on duty. The doors are locked from the outside. Are they any safer? Columbine high school had a security officer, yet the two young men were able to kill thirteen.
What causes a person or persons to shoot others? We have become a militarized society and violence permeates our movies, television shows and other media. Digital games promote violence such as rapes, thefts and killings.
What a terrible thing to have happen in our country when Black teenagers like Trayvon Martin are killed or when little seven and eight year old students and school employees are killed in the Sandy Hook School in Connecticut. In fact, the third leading cause of death of children from 5 to 13 is from shooting.
Not only are guns plentiful but there is the problem of the lack of mental health practices. Even if a teacher spots a child with severe behavioral and emotional problems, lack of funding prevents help from the school. Too many times the teacher is told that the problem the child has is environmental and so he/she can’t be helped. You can’t help a child that lives in poverty or faces abuse daily in his/her home.
Our schools are becoming dehumanizing. Sometimes students feel like a number. Classes are oversized and teachers don’t connect with their students. One young man in a California University received an email from his professor who teaches 900 students in a writing class. The professor stated that the paper the student wrote was outstanding and he was sorry that he would never get to meet him.
We must humanize our society, particularly the schools. We must demand the funding to make schools places where the opportunity is given to all students to reach their potential. An appreciation of all cultures and all histories has to be taught.
We have to make fundamental reforms in education so that every student will have hope for the future.
