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John Cloud's "Failing Our Geniuses" correctly identified a troubling trait in our public education system [Aug. 27]. He stated, "In a no-child-left-behind conception of public education, lifting everyone up to a minimum level is more important than allowing students to excel to their limit." It's no wonder we're witnessing a proliferation of charter schools, home schooling and private schools. In my state, an alliance of politicians and the teachers' union controls all funding and curriculum for kindergarten through high school. As a result, teachers and administrators are given little incentive to be creative...
...child-left-behind conception of public education, lifting everyone up to a minimum level is more important than allowing students to excel to their limit. It has become more important for schools to identify deficiencies than to cultivate gifts. Odd though it seems for a law written and enacted during a Republican Administration, the social impulse behind No Child Left Behind is radically egalitarian. It has forced schools to deeply subsidize the education of the least gifted, and gifted programs have suffered. The year after the President signed the law in 2002, Illinois cut $16 million from gifted education; Michigan...
...anomie," as Harvard psychologist William Pollack told me, adrift in a world of change without the help they need to find their way. Even in the youngest grades, test-oriented teachers focus energy on conventional exercises in reading, writing and other seatwork, areas in which girls tend to excel. At the same time, schools are cutting science labs, physical education and recess, where the experiential learning styles of boys come into play. No wonder, the theory goes, our boys get jittery, grow disruptive and eventually tune out. "A boy will get a reputation as hell on wheels that follows...
Previous studies have shown that rather than becoming emotionally distressed and disengaging from school, a minority of obese adolescents excel in academics. "Knowing that they'll never be captain of the football or swim team, they try harder and get really good grades," says Crosnoe. "But it's really hard to predict who is going to go either route...
...great job identifying steps to improve the supply side of education, but what about the demand side? In how many schools is being smart seen as uncool? In how many schools are the real heroes those who excel in sports rather than academics? How many parents are not involved enough in their children's education? If we can inspire a greater love of learning--not for test results but just for a high regard for achievement--there would be no need for the NCLB legislation...