When
one looks at the world OECD education rankings, it’s not only immediately
evident that the United States is well below first world countries such as
Canada (number three overall) and Japan (number five overall), but
surprisingly, it is also below countries such as Poland
(number twelve overall) and Iceland (number thirteen overall). How did we as an
economic powerhouse and as such an internationally influential country fall
this far academically? After all, in 2001, we established the No Child Left
Behind Act in order to improve our education
system. Unfortunately, contrary to its name, this act did leave one child
behind: The United States of America.
Let
us first take a look at what the No Child Left Behind Act set out to accomplish
as well as the resulting government costs. The No Child Left Behind Act states
that schools will receive federal funding if schools administer state-wide
administrative tests to students and if they meet the Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP) requirement, which
basically means that the average test score for a certain grade-level, such as
seventh grade, must be better than the previous year’s average score. Failure
to meet this goal for three consecutive years results in the school being
forced to provide free tutoring and other such services and five consecutive
years can result in the school being shut down. Additionally, each year the AYP
score is not met, the funding is reduced. Just how much money is the government
pouring into this law? According to “NLCB Under a Microscope,” in the school
year of 2004-2005 alone, the states were left with a surplus of at least 780
million dollars after receiving a budget of 71.47 billion dollars. It is
obvious that the government has much faith in the No Child Left Behind Act, but
just how successful has the act been in the last eleven years?
Well,
to answer the question posed at the end of the previous paragraph, it has not
been very successful. The evidence is clear when one looks at the Nation’s
Report Card (courtesy of the National Center of Education Statistics): no change
in Eighth Grade reading between 2002 and 2009, little improvement in fourth
grade reading proficiency, and only slightly smaller score gaps between ethnicities. Why exactly
has this happened? We poured so much money into this act, and yet, it has
barely changed anything. One could easily blame the students, calling those who
do below average lazy or ambitionless, but are they really to blame? No, rather
than blame them, we must look at ourselves as well as the United States itself
to realize the truth: we have left a
child behind, a fact that will haunt all of our own children
until we adopt this lost child and set it on the path that so many parents want
their kids to walk as well. This child is the United States of America.
In
its short 236 years of being a country, the United States, being the melting
pot that it is, has formed a rather unique culture. This culture, like other
cultures, has preferences toward certain attributes, examples being athleticism and social communication. However, one
attribute in particular that many
other countries find desirable is often looked down upon in the United States.
This attribute is intelligence. The evidence is clear the moment anyone of any
age turns on the television. The kids watch “Jimmy Neutron” or “Dexter’s
Laboratory,” both shows are about an incredibly intelligent kid who has a
secret lab but is constantly picked on by the people around him. It is clear
that both protagonists are unpopular in their respective schools as well because of their intelligence. In the somewhat more realistic
“Drake and Josh” reality TV show, something older kids may watch, one observes
stark differences between the step-brothers. The intelligent one, Josh (played
by Josh Peck) is shown as being goofy, prone to accidents, and often the butt
of jokes. In contrast, Drake (played by Drake Bell) is shown as being below
average in intelligence, but at the same time, popular, coordinated, and adored
by girls. Even as we age into our teens, shows such as “The Simpsons” give us
the socially awkward, but highly intellectual Professor Frink and the intelligent
but comic-book obsessed Comic Book guy, both
portrayed as lonely, loveless outcasts. There are plenty of other examples besides these, and
they all point to a central theme of associating intelligence with
unpopularity, awkwardness, and clumsiness. Although one can simply dismiss
these influences as being unimportant, looking at how young America’s culture
is, one could easily equate TV shows such as these with myths that often greatly shape the culture from which they are created. Because
our country is so young, its culture is still very easily molded, and if we
truly want our academic achievement to increase, rather than throwing money at
the problem, we must make an effort change our culture, much in the same way
one would try to change their own child’s behavior to fit what we consider to
be a model for a proper
behavior. It’s time for the United States to grow out of its immature
ways and realize that in order to compete with other nations academically, it
is going to have to start working hard to change its attitude.
The
best way to change the United States’s current attitude is to do what we have
done for the country’s lifetime: adopt an aspect
of culture from another country into our
own, thus staying true to our title
as a melting pot. In the case of academics, it is best to turn toward Japan.
Japan, for all intents and purposes, is the complete opposite of the United
States, a very homogeneous country where the focus on sports and individuality
is minimal compared to the focus on academics and group cohesion. Many of their
values stem from things such as the bushido code, which Academic Nationalism
in China and Japan: Framed in Concepts of Nature, Culture, and the Universal
notes as, “justice, courage, benevolence, politeness, veracity, honour, and
loyalty.” Virtues such as these and many others are still present in Japan today,
as is evidenced by the country having a very low crime-rate. Such values have
led the Japanese to place importance in trying one’s
best in whatever they are doing, and as a
result, there is often a great deal of competition among peers,
especially in an academic setting, to be the best. To add further contrast
between the U.S. and Japan, let us take a look at the difference in word usage
between the countries. In the U.S., before a test, we often wish each other,
“Good luck!” as if it is merely luck that will allow us to pass a test in the
end, while the Japanese say, “Ganbatte!” literally meaning, “Do your best!”
This phrase of encouragement puts the result of the test entirely into the
receiver’s hands, telling them to use all of the knowledge that they have
culminated in order to pass the test. This difference in attitude and values,
especially toward academics, may very well contribute to why the
U.S. is only number fourteen on the chart mentioned in the opening paragraph. If we adopt aspects such as this into our own culture, it will
be easy to pull the United States, the world’s youngest child, out of this
academic slump.
The
first thing we as Americans need to do in order to create a similar respect
toward those that possess intelligence that is to
change how our culture treats those that are academically gifted, especially
the way that the media presents them. As
previously stated, like a child’s mind, the U.S.’s culture, is easily molded, so such a challenge is not as daunting as
it first may seem. Firstly, we need to honor our scholars just as much as we
honor those who can throw around a ball made of pigskin well. Not only that,
but we must encourage children and teenagers to try hard in school and instill in them that intelligence is a value that is should not result in
shame. One big way that we can bring about this change is by changing
the archetypical intelligent, “nerdy” character we see in today’s television
shows into a character well-respected by classmates and teachers but still given a character flaw that wouldn’t be out of the ordinary on
any other average character; being
intelligent would likely then become
associated less with clumsiness and being socially awkward, and it would
instead be seen as a generally positive character trait. This way, children are
much less likely to fear the prospect of being intelligent or loathe those that
are. It’s simple, the more our culture comes to accept intelligent people,
whether through the media or from the new
attitude our elders will instill in us,
students will feel a much greater motivation to do well in school. Such
changes to our culture will allow us to get rid of virtually useless programs
such as the No Child Left Behind Act, because at
that point, no child would want to get left behind, not even our little red,
white, and blue.
The
United States has much untapped potential, but sadly, laws such as the No Child
Left Behind Law simply will not bring that potential into the open. The biggest
thing that is keeping us in our academic slump is our culture, not a lack of
willpower. If we wish to compete with the likes of South Korea and Canada
academically, we will have to change our culture. In conclusion, if the U.S.
wants to compete academically with other top countries, we need to not only get rid of the No Child Left Behind Act, but our country must change its perspective on intelligent people as a
whole.
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