Posted ByAvis Reid on September 12, 19100 at 23:28:53:
In Reply to: Discussion Section posted byCenter for Law and Education on April 09, 1998 at 16:56:48:
: This section is intended to provide CAPS members with
: an opportunity to exchange ideas about education
: reform. To start the discuss off, what do people
: think about a national test?
I do not think a National Test would be just, as there is such a wide disparity in quality of education from one state to another, and sometimes one LEA to another. Why should high school students have to take a national test when professionals do not? Lawyers study for individual state bar exams after three years of concentrated studies; likewise do other professions.
Our children receive a "haphazzard" public school education at best. Why all this focus on national testing and national standards when we have no enforced NATIONAL LAWS?? Why are our education laws - which provide federal funding - not uniform? We have the Uniform Child Custody Act and the Uniform Child Support Act, to mention a couple. These laws put a real crimp in the lifestyles of many offenders. The National Highway Safety Act basically says that federal roads will be built and maintained in a manner prescribed by the federal government or - guess what - no more money. WHY ARE OUR EDUCATION LAWS TREATED SO FLIPPANTLY? ARE NOT OUR CHILDREN'S MINDS AS IMPORTANT AS OUR HIGHWAYS?
I would strongly support a move at the federal level to treat our education laws and funding as "Uniform Acts" and stop some of the rampant abuses of our most treasured national resource: OUR CHILDREN!