School Days School Days

Have you ever been on the wrong side of a law that you have always pretty much supported? And, no, I'm not talking about DWI, larceny, or anything criminal. This has kinda happened to me over the last week. It has to do with No Child Left Behind law.

No doubt every kid should have equal opportunity. If I were a parent and my kid was in the wrong school's area, I wouldn't want my children attending a sub-par school.

Our school, just around the corner, is where Will started this week. Indian hills Elementary. Michelle and I debated over private and public schools and figured out that Indian Hills was one of the best around. Evidently many parents have figured out the same thing. There are 25 children in each of the 4 kindergardens. Many, no doubt, are imported from deficient schools. The NLR Times said today that many schools (even my elementary alma matter Lynch Drive) have empty classrooms because parents take them to schools with better track records.

Where this law fails, I now think, is that the kids that come from deficient schools to "better" schools all come from families who care. I'm no education expert but I think it isn't too far off base to assume that children with involved parents develop more goal oriented children. The kids left behind are the ones left at deficient schools whos parents aren't involved enough to fight for them to be at a better school. And you set up the perfect storm...bad schools loose parents who care...scores go even lower. Good schools gain better parents (thus better students)...their scores go up.

They are going to lower the child to teacher ratio at Will's school in the comming days. And I'm glad because I won't let Will be left behind either. Like I said before the children left behind will always be the ones with parents who aren't involved enough with their children's daily lives.