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 This is another thing that truly bothers me and I know everyone else on here as well.  I'm 100% for home schooling or private schooling if you can afford it.  I am amazed that alot of these kids today can walk and chew gum at the same time since they are being held back by No Child Left Behind, all the schools are worried about is them passing the Proficiency Exam, and having students in the seats so that they can get the Federal Money.   I'm honestly suprised Columbus Public Schools hasn't offered "Boarding School Dorms yet" They provide Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner, Doctors, Dental to the as Superintendent  Gene Harris calls them Pokies(niglets)............

http://www.newsnet14.com/?p=7464

Student writer J. Williams writes in:

Illegal Immigration and American Education

In the past twenty years, the United States education system has been
accumulating quite a bit of criticism. Evidence shows that the United
States has been lagging exponentially compared to almost all the
industrialized countries. This specifically refers to Asian countries
that are statistically blowing the U.S. out of the water. Recent survey
results in the universal subject of math show us that the U.S. eighth
graders have fallen behind, while the twelfth grade level showed only
slight improvement (appositive). This means that the U.S. students are
barely floating above water, whereas, Asian students have built some
sort of super boat (appositive).

Bluntly put, the “No Child Left Behind” act flat out destroys our
educational system. It’s actually more like “Every Child Held Back”.
Each student is held back so they’re all at the same pace as the
students who can’t keep up. It slows down the smarter ones and keeps
them from getting the full learning potential of the course. It doesn’t
make any sense. It is a good idea in theory but not in practice. So is
communism…

“Many American critics believe that the major problem with public
education today is a lack of focus on results. Students aren’t expected
to meet high standards, the argument goes, and the process of education
takes precedence over analyzing education results in policy-making
circles. This is a valid argument (as far as it goes). Indeed, it can
be taken one important step further. We not only fail to hold
individual students accountable for poor performance, we have also
failed to hold the entire government-controlled school system
accountable for its performance since at least World War II. Public
education is itself a failure. Why shouldn’t individual students follow
its example?” (Hood)

Students no longer have to compete to get into good schools, nor do
they have to actually perform well to advance from grade to grade. This
is because of our government’s attempt to make higher education more of
a reality for minority cultures. Congress has even gone so far as to
promote allowing illegal immigrants to enroll in our schools. The DREAM
act is giving these illegal immigrants the opportunity to pay in-state
college tuition when they don’t legally live in that state, or the
country for that matter. In-state college tuition for illegal aliens
contributes to a de facto illegal-alien amnesty. According to Federal
Law Title 8, Chapter 14, Sec. 1623,

“An alien who is not lawfully present in the United States shall not be
eligible on the basis of residence within a State… for any
postsecondary education benefit unless a citizen or national of the
United States is eligible for such a benefit” (Government).

With states straining under gaping budget shortfalls, public schools
throughout the country are facing some of the most significant
decreases in state education funding in decades. In some states,
drastic cuts mean lay-offs for teachers, larger class sizes, fewer
textbooks, and eliminating sports, language programs, and after-school
activities. Nearly two-thirds of the states have cut back or proposed
reductions in support for childcare and early childhood programs. Some
are even shortening the school week from five days to four. While these
massive budget deficits cannot be attributed to any single source, the
enormous impact of large-scale illegal immigration cannot be ignored.
“The total K-12 school expenditure for illegal immigrants costs the
states nearly $12 billion annually, and when the children born here to
illegal aliens are added, the costs more than double to $28.6 billion”
(Editors).

Without a serious commitment , the open borders and lax enforcement
that allow millions of illegal aliens to enter the U.S. each year and
to obtain driver’s licenses and other official identification documents
with virtually no fear of the law will continue to undermine the will
of the American people, suck dry our communities’ financial resources,
and imperil our children’s future. Rather than expand the Constitution
to be so broad as to include even those who are not legally under
American jurisdiction, a better approach to the education problem would
be to limit public education solely to United States citizens.
Works Cited

Editors, The. “Illegal Aliens Bring Generations Of Poverty With Them.” 2 January 2007. Outlaw News. 14 November 2007 <http :="" www.outlawjournalism.com= "" news="" ?p="1572">.

Government. “Cases and Codes.” 3 January 2005. Find Law. 14 November 2007 </http><http :="" caselaw.lp.findlaw.com="" casecode="" uscodes="" 8="" chapters="" 14="" subchapters="" ii="" sections="" section_1623.html="">.

Hood, John. “The Failure of American Public Education.” February 1993. Foundation For Economic Education. 7 November 2007 </http>.