Aubrie RamosJunior in Social Work
The ideals behind the no child left behind act are noble, but its implications are destructive. Under the no child left behind act, schools in more affluent neighborhoods will have a great advantage. On the other hand, schools with large numbers of children who have limited English proficiency, and schools with large numbers of children with disabilities will also have an extreme disadvantage. Still, schools need to track the performance of their students carefully. Particularly, schools need to ensure that children of all races and economic backgrounds are performing adequately. However, it is ridiculous to expect children who have little formal education, who do not speak English, and children who have cognitive disabilities to perform at the same level of more fortunate children. Furthermore, the no child left behind act does nothing to help under achieving students to succeed in school, other than allow them to attend another school. When schools who meet the standards begin to receive large numbers of students from the failing schools, they will most likely proceed to experience the same difficulties as the failing schools. If these schools receive adequate support, they could achieve better performance from under achieving students. Still, the failing schools themselves could also perform better with adequate funding to provide for small classes, after school programs, highly qualified teachers, aids, tutors, counselors, social workers and other staff. All children should have access to high quality education in their own neighborhoods. The no child left behind act fails to provide this. For this reason, Utah should opt out of the no child left behind act. Instead Utah should develop its own program for accountability in education that provides quality education to all children in their own neighborhoods. This will require a great increase in funds for education, and it may require a tax increase. Nevertheless if education is a priority in the Utah, we should be willing to make the necessary sacrifices in order to provide all Utah children with a top quality education with state tax dollars. Utah does not need the no child left behind act to achieve this.