No Child Left Behind: Annihilation or Awakening?

It is no mystery that since the induction of No Child Left Behind (NCLB) inflicted upon America’s Public Education System many questions have been raised regarding the quality and quantity of learning our children receive. Many flaws have been revealed since its enactment January 2002 such as reading programs offering minimal progress, special education inclusion without supports and allocation of funds based upon performance testing standards. Truly with such poor results one would deduce that No Child Left Behind is an annihilation of quality teachers, education, and students or is it?

With every reform movement truth eventually floats to the surface and overflows into the hearts and minds of those who seek. No Child Left Behind was unveiled as its intent to leave a population of students behind became clear. The intent was to not equip children of certain demographics with the tools necessary to function emotionally, socially and economically thus creating a permanent underclass or slaves if you will. The system to destroy the lives of these beings who are just beginning to live was formulated long before No Child Left Behind.

I remember in 1992, my senior year of high school, the local district ridded itself from veteran teachers and support staff. Most teachers were forced into early retirement while others were demoted. This made room for suburban Generation X rookies (the lost generation) to enter into a terrain of misconceptions and politics. They were taught that it was their job to actively seek children who need extra help in classes with the intent to assist in removing them from a classroom environment. These rookies were told to identify children with certain behaviors which contributed to the labeling of Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADD/ADHD) and currently Emotional Disturbance/Behavioral Disorder (ED/BD). Furthermore because these teachers were getting paid less; incentives and bonuses were handed to those who chose to sell out children for money making the game more lucrative.

When No Child Left Behind came to pass requirements for Teachers and Teaching Assistants became more stringent resulting in a second wave of removals. For Champaign mostly African Americans are the ones who take the hit, leaving minority children without support or protection. So when it came time to target kids of course those who are remarkably different get targeted first by the remaining Anglo Saxon novices. These children are males, minorities and those with disabilities. For those children who contain all three qualities, a triple threat, they are targeted and ousted from the school environment quicker. It is these special children who defy all man-made laws of chaos, confusion in favor of natural order of peace and clarity. In other words these children want truth over deception.

Had we not received No Child Left Behind, America’s minorities would not know how little their children is worth. We would not have known our children were being sold to the Healthcare Industry, the Prison System, and essentially the Government for a currency that’s not worth the paper it’s printed upon. We would not have seen our children suffer inside the school’s detentions and classrooms being shucked away like a stalk of corn. The upsurge of victims and disability rights group such as the Children’s Defense Fund would not have surfaced. Articles and reports would not have been written on how detrimental No Child Left Behind has been for minority students. Finally America might not have awaken from the system placed specifically for the destruction of our youth.

Peace, Love and Bliss

Angel-Ah