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Class of 2001
Pentecostal
Victory
•entecostal Church
p.m. Wednesday 7:00 pi.
8 - H Brothers
id the C.S. Wal-Mart)
764-4180
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696-0403
Worship - 2:00p.mJ
Presbyterian Church
Rock Prairie Road
979) 694-7700
im W. Steele - Pastor
nday Service:
30 & 11 a.m.
nday School:
9:45 a.m.
Opinion
The Battalion
Page 11 • Friday, October 24, 2003
Sad state of affairs
No Child Left Behind Act fails to fix problems in the U.S. education system
Paul Wilson • THE BATTALION
T eaching is perhaps one of the most
underappreciated professions in
America. For a group of people that
devotes so much time and energy to educating
future generations of this nation, the respect
and assistance it deserves is lacking. The No
Child Left Behind Act of 2001, which was
supposed to improve education in the United
States, only places more burdens on American
teachers, limiting their ability to improve edu
cation in the public schools.
The act itself has high goals that deserve praise. However, the
policies of the legislation have left educators across the United
States with more red tape and less necessary resources to improve
perfonnance. Sandra Feldman, president of the American
Federation of Teachers, says the program has two main flaws.
The first of these flaws involves how the government measures
performance in the public school system. The second flaw is that
No Child Left Behind is not adequately funded.
These problems make the act incapable of reaching its own
goals.
States rely on standardized tests to measure the performance
of children in schools. In Texas, for example, the state uses the
new TAKS test, a revision of the old TAAS test, to determine
whether pupils are meeting basic standards. If the TAKS test
illustrates the standard educators set for public school students,
that standard is severely lacking. Furthermore, these tests place
an unfair burden on teachers throughout the nation. Rather than
teaching the core curriculum of the class, teachers often are
forced to spend a great amount of time teaching the test itself.
This has shifted the focus from teaching students about the
founding fathers of the United States or about Shakespeare’s
masterpieces, to teaching them how to read a reading compre
hension passage and answer the questions. It’s no wonder
many of today’s high school graduates don’t know the basics of
history or literature.
The second flaw that presents the biggest obstacle to improv
ing education involves the lack of resources given to schools by
the No Child Left Behind program. According to the National
Education Association, the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001
“focuses on punishments rather than assistance, mandates rather
than support for effective programs and privatization rather than
teacher-led, family oriented solutions.” Feldman says the promise
to devote more money for after-school programs, summer school
and professional development support for teachers has been bro
ken by the Bush administration. The law in general is an
unfounded mandate.
The government has now put all these new
regulations on schools and educators yet has
failed to provide adequate financial resources
to met them.
Because of increased red tape and inade
quate education funds, teachers across
America have to carry an extra unfair burden
on their backs. Teaching the standardized tests
and meeting governmental accountability
measurements have resulted in gargantuan
amounts of paperwork without increases in
teacher salaries. Teachers are now required to
do even more work without more pay. In many
states, teachers lack basic collective bargain
ing rights and thus must submit to these new
failed educational standards without any polit*
ical leverage. Teachers’ voices, like those of
organized groups such as the National
Education Association and the American
Federation of Teachers, have been ignored.
This presents the biggest threat to public
education itself.
The problem in the American education
system goes beyond performance on measure
ment tests. The real problem lies in the priori
ties of politicians in Washington and Austin
who don’t make education a number one prior
ity. There is something wrong in the American
society when felons sit in air-conditioned jails
while many children sit in un-air conditioned
portable classrooms. Something is wrong
when members of Congress are giving them
selves a pay raise while school districts are
cutting teacher salaries.
The priorities of this nation must be redirect
ed toward improving the quality of life for all
children so they can get a decent education.
Children need one-on-one relationships with their teachers
so they can get the attention necessary to learn subject material.
Politicians need to allocate more money to reduce classroom
size so teachers can spend more time with each child.
The Bush administration and others need to put the money
where their mouth is. There is no reason why the most power
ful, prosperous nation in the world shouldn’t have the best pub
lic education for its citizens. Programs such as the No Child
Left Behind Act of 2001 might have lofty goals, and those
goals are attainable, but only if the program is adequately fund
ed and provides flexibility for local school districts and teach
ers. Until this happens, the United States will simply be one
nation, under-educated.
Jonathan Steed is a senior
political science major.
JONATHAN
STEED
Other states must not follow Califomia recall example
T he votes are in and the
people have spoken.
The people of
Califomia have recalled one
governor and appointed a
movie star in his place. Other
states with the option of
recalling their state-elected
employees should not follow
California’s lead. The cam
paign and election in the
Golden State revealed flaws in the recall
process, and these should be corrected before
any more recalls are attempted to keep the
political process serious.
Davis was recalled by about 55 percent of
voters, and Schwarzenegger received 48 percent
of the vote to replace him. The process gave
Califomia national attention for more than two
months and some believe the political process
has lost credibility. It was not the recall process
itself which resulted in the credibility lost, but
the way in which the process was carried out.
Setting up a uniform procedure to narrow
the number of potential candidates would avoid
the political circus that ensued in California.
Politics should not become a joke, but it can be
seen as nothing else when a porn star, an adult
magazine publisher and a comedi
an run for a state office. There
should be guidelines to test the
candidates’ true intentions for
running, and the qualifications
need to be much tougher than
they are in California. All that
was required to get your name on
California’s ballot for governor
was $3,500 and 65 signatures.
Many states allow the public to
recall local elected employees
according to FOXNews.com, but
only 18 states allow the recall of
statewide officials. Most of these
states are located in the western
United States. Nevada is one of
these, and it is currently collecting signatures
to get a recall placed on its next ballot. The
state wants Republican Gov. Kenny Guinn
recalled for raising taxes. The people of
Nevada need to postpone their recall process
and wait until a more logical system is in place
to avoid another circus-like race that becomes
fodder for political comedians.
Schwarzenegger now has the
chance to fulfill his campaign
promises, and he must begin right
away. His state budget plan is due
by Jan. 10, according to abc-
news.com. This gives him only a
couple of months to correct the
$8 billion budget shortfall, which
is the reason Davis was ousted.
Schwarzenegger needs to capital
ize on his opportunity and show
the rest of the country he was not
elected just because he is a movie
star. If Schwarzenegger is unable
to do this, he will prove just how
little legitimacy the California
recall process has.
The transfer of power between the governors
must be smooth, and the results of the election
should not be questioned if California hopes to
maintain any political credibility. Lawyers and
recounts should be kept out.
Fortunately, Davis seems to be doing the
right thing. He realizes he was voted out by a
majority of the voters, and a replacement has
been chosen. Davis has promised to give up his
office with honor, and the citizens of California
as well as people throughout the country
should admire Davis if he steps out of the spot
light honorably. A long mess, such as what
occurred after the 2000 presidential election,
should be avoided.
Other states thinking about recalling their
own elected officials need to realize the dam
age it does to a state’s credibility and wait until
a more logical recall procedure is created.
Maybe they can wait until the next election to
replace the disliked official instead of causing
another political circus.
Hayden Migl is a freshman
political science major.
HAYDEN
MIGL
u
Politics should
not become a joke,
but it can be seen as
nothing else when a
porn star, an adult
magazine publisher
and a comedian run
for state office.
MAIL CALL
dents Welcome
enantpresbyterian.org
dvertise
i this
ge call
Battalion
jday!
5-2696
Mourning as friend
would have wanted
In response to an Oct. 22 mail call:
Levi was a dear friend of mine,
someone who I will cherish as long
as I live, and I know that everyone
who ever met Levi shares the same
feeling. I can honestly say that I
have not laughed harder in my life
than shooting the bull with his
father, uncle and their buddy on the
night Levi passed talking about
things I probably can’t mention
here. In our mourning we celebrat
ed the follies and successes of his
life, and the reality of Levi’s life was
expressed in the actions and trib
utes of everyone who he touched,
and they were represented well in
his article.
When Levi’s mother told me Levi’s
memorial would be an “informal little
thing for people to share Levi stories,”
I laughed and said, “Yes ma’am, we
call those grade stories.” And she
said, “I know, and that’s the way it
should be.”
In every way we all mourned, we
made a point to be constructive as
Levi would see it. We went to the
Chicken with his family, drank and
played bones. We killed the biggest
tree we could find — with his family.
And we all laughed very hard about
the incomparable Levi Windle.
Dion Mclnnis
Class of 2003
Article accurately
reflected Aggie's life
I understand that Ms. Ruoff was
not affiliated with Levi Windle in any
way. I am not blaming her for think
ing the article was disrespectful, but
as a personal friend of Levi Windle,
I do not think a better article could
have been written.
This article included comments
from both his friends and his family,
so it was not disgracing him or his
family in any way. Levi was the kind of
guy who would have enjoyed reading
the thoughts and memories people
had about him, and these particular
ones depicted him best as a person.
Levi would want to be remembered
as the guy who closed down the
Chicken every night and one who
was out at the bonfire cut site every
weekend cutting down trees.
If Ms. Ruoff had been at his memo
rial service on Monday, she may
have heard that every story told
about Levi stated exactly who he was
and what he did as a person. She
may also have seen the way that so
many of the students at this
University feel about him. He touched
everyone’s heart who had known him
for a time as little as an hour.
Shelby Noble
Class of 2006
Response belittled
memories of a friend
It was quite apparent that Ms.
Ruoff never had a chance to meet
Levi Windle. The story referred to in
the mail call reflects the type of per
son Levi was to his friends. He was
a fun-loving, caring individual
whose many crazy stunts molded
and defined who he was.
This story, and many like it, were
told at his funeral in Rudder on
Monday and had the entire atten
dance, including family and friends,
laughing about how he devoted his
life to making everyone around him
smile. What Ms. Ruoff did is pub
licly belittle someone’s fond memo
ry of a dear friend recently lost.
Chad Hutson
Class of 2002
Stories of friend are
a prized possession
I would like to applaud The
Battalion for the article that was
written about Levi Windle. As a
long time friend of Levi’s, I was
appreciative to read the article that
was written. The article was not
meant to be disgraceful or disre
spectful to his memory. Instead, it
was an interpretation of the things
that we remember about him.
I am sure that The Battalion meant
no disrespect and that they were
only trying to display the man that
Levi was. I know for a fact that
Levi’s family and friends took com
fort in the words of remembrance
that were displayed in the article.
I am sure that nobody was ever
truly “mortified” by Levi’s actions.
Levi was a man that made people
smile and laugh. By not knowing
who Levi really was, it is hard to
judge what can be considered bad or
good representation of his character.
He was a good man and he will be
deeply missed by those of us who
knew him well. If he was not a man of
good character then us as friends
would not be working so hard to aid
his family in his medical expenses.
I only hope that other students
attending this University will read the
article about Levi and learn that
friends are forever and that you
should continue to cherish every
moment that you spend with them
and hold those memories as a prized
possession because you never know
when it will all be taken away.
Kayla Wade
Class of 2005