In response to Magnet Schools

Arlene Ackerman... what a mess. I haven't been too fond of her since the first day she started to be honest. Ackerman says that there is not enough diversity in schools... obviously she is completely oblivious - either that or she's just that damn dumb. Has Ackerman been in our schools? Every school I have seen so far has been completely diverse. I don't believe in race anyway! 

A draft? So we're going to draft people into schools now? That is going to threaten the academic balance of magnet schools in many ways. A minimum point system of 1000 - 600 for grades, 200 for behavior. This is just like affirmative action... suppose a student is passionate  about being accepted to Central but is Hispanic (suppose Hispanics make up 60% of Central), and has the grades. However, a Caucasian person (suppose Caucasians make up 10% of Central), who does not have the grades, applies to Central. The white person gets accepted because of a lack of diversity, and the smart Hispanic who cares about school gets stuck in a horrible neighborhood school. That's not fair.

I fear for the future of this generation... I really do.

In Response to The No Child Left Behind article

Barack Obama: Under these guidelines, schools that achieve excellence or show real progress will be rewarded, and local districts will be encouraged to commit to change in schools that are clearly letting their students down.

Local districts will be encouraged to commit to change in schools that are clearly letting their students down? How are staff members in certain districts letting their students down? This is such a biased and broad statement, to say the least. I understand thousands of students cannot make the 2014 deadline of being proficient in math and reading, but did the government honestly expect them to?

Consider the circumstances that some students come from -- every student's background and home life is different. There are students who come from backgrounds where they are taught to not care about school... a policy known as No Child Left Behind will not fix this. There are always going to be people that just do not care, regardless of how many opportunities that are laid out in front of them. 

For Barack Obama to basically persecute the teachers is completely ridiculous. There are wonderful teachers all over that are placed in neighborhood schools with students that just do not care. Though the teachers try their hardest... when it comes down to it, it is not a one-way relationship.

Ms. ANNE BRYANT (Executive Director, National School Boards Association): We really do know how to turn around schools. It's hard, it's complex, and it has a lot do to with professional development and changing strategies of teaching. But there just is no evidence that changing the staffing, necessarily, leads to greater student achievement.

Of course. How does changing around the school and possibly replacing staff members lead to greater student achievement if the students are not putting forth any effort whatsoever to do anything?

Whether America has the No Child Left Behind law or not, there will always be those who do not feel like participating.