However, like any other form of trust and respect, this type of respect walks a very thin line. While teachers deserve respect of pupils and parents, they are trusted to follow rules and codes of conduct. They are trusted to make sure that their students are learning valuable skills, that a student is safe and secure when they walk into the classroom, and that the teacher will never break the rules and ethics that they are trying to instill into the class that they teach.
But in the recent weeks, major news outlets have been reporting about teachers using different ways to cheat on the standardized tests that are mandated by the No Child Left Behind act that was signed into law in 2001. Schools in Washington D.C. have been a major headline, with a probe examining different schools in the D.C. districts. Varying numbers of classes were tested based on school population, and the classes that were cheating were flagged by the study. The top ten highest percentages rated from 20% to a full 100% cheating rate.
This type of action by teachers is unacceptable. As I read the article, I had a hunch that cheating like this wasn't limited to the D.C. school area. My hunch was proven to be correct. As I continued my search, I found out that many schools nationwide, from D.C. to Georgia, to Arizona, and Michigan, have all had teachers participating in different styles of cheating on these tests. It was something I had overlooked through a month's worth of news reports and studies.
What is the reason for these teachers to cheat? Well, the main one is greed. Many districts offer bonuses and raises to schools who have their students receive a certain percentage on the standardized tests. As the a certain percentage involves increased federal funding for the school, the districts have placed incentives in order for the teachers to receive better grades. However, instead of putting in the hard work, the teachers have just given up.
There is one way that teachers have been able to not cheat and still allow their students the ability to pass these tests with the results that they want. That way is to focus the curriculum on the tests alone. However, this severely affects what the students can learn in a given school year, and don't push them to expand beyond what the tests teach them. This is a huge hindrance to a child's development, forcing them to conform to a set of standards and not exceeding them.
But either way you look at this, it sends a very clear message. That many teachers across the country, who have taken the job of an educator, are putting their own compensation and benefits over the student. The job of an educator is to put the student above all else as long as they're in the classroom. If a student asks for help, wants to know more, it is their job to give that to them. However, when a teacher erases answers on a test, or when a teacher changes curriculum to conform to a test, that shows a lack of caring for the well-being of the students.
Now, I know that a lot of teachers feel hogtied by the stipulations and limitations of their jobs. Helping a student learn depends on both the student and teacher to work together. If a student doesn't go for help, or doesn't want to participate in class, there is only so much that a teacher can do. However, that shouldn't make a teacher change an entire lesson plan in order to achieve the results that they want. A teacher has the ability to go to the child's parents, call a conference, or even meet with administrators to figure out what they can do.
On top of this, school districts are cutting budgets and time on programs that promote creativity and expanded thinking. Art classes, physical education, after-school sports programs, these type of institutions teach different types of thinking as well as discipline and structure. To cut these types of programs from schools is allowing schools to almost stamp out ideas like creation, strategy, and ingenuity. These are basic fundamentals that have designed many things in previous lifetimes as well as our own. Think about it, would something as large as Facebook.com be around is Mark Zuckerberg didn't have in ingenuity and creativeness to take a small idea from three college students and turn it into a multi-billion dollar organization?
The NCLB act is a flawed system, granted, but the idea of it is one that has been needed for a long time. But in implementation, the schools have taken a benchmark system and turned it into a system of corruption and greed. The sad thing is that the largest thing ever is at stake, the future of the children in the United States educational system. The teachers that cheat, that change curriculum, are doing nothing more than throwing that future away and hoping that these students will grow up to be the people they need to be on their own.
Now with that, I do apologize for the late post, Thursday was an incredibly hectic day. However, soon, we should be seeing the first official post from our other author, Kelly Francis, as well as my Monday review of the third book in the Mickey Haller series, 'The Reversal'. Thank you everyone
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