Friday, January 30, 2009

The American Dream



Hello everyone. Above you will find a video excerpt by the famous American comedian George Carlin on the topic of education and the American Dream. I am currently organizing some data on the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) which is mentioned by George in the video. This public law act, aimed at improving the performance of elementary and secondary schooling in the United States, was proposed by former President George Bush on January 23, 2001. The NCLB Act was not officially signed into law until January 8, 2002. I will soon post more information concerning the No Child Left Behind Act. Please feel free to post any comments, whether you agree or disagree with what George Carlin is saying.

1 comment:

  1. I completely agree with George Carl that the expectations of student achievement are diminishing. Schools are in fact lowering the standards for passing test.

    Once upon a time it was pass or fail...now we have proficient and partially proficient.

    On the March 2004 Math HSPA the raw point’s necessary to achieve “proficient” was 20/47. The number of raw points to achieve “advanced proficient” was 35/47. That means in order to be proficient, which is required for graduation, students would need to answer 42% of their questions correctly. And to be considered "advanced proficient" they need an average 74%.

    If we never raise the bar, how can we expect students to challenge themselves academically?

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