What Gets Lost ...

If it were up to the teacher and her student, maybe education would have a fighting chance. Unfortunately, that is not the case. Involve the state, the government, and its legislation, which of course, do not have a pedagogical background regarding education, and you have a quagmire that gives competition to the most insidious quicksand. Let's take a few examples, shall we? Don't worry, take my hand - I will lead you deftly through the soft, sinking parts ...
So, we really need to discuss the No Child Left Behind initiative, because even though the road by which it came to light was paved with good intentions, we know where that road can sometimes lead. Part of the way that No Child Left Behind (herein referred to as "NCLB"), tries to improve the quality of education is by stating that all teachers must be highly qualified. "Highly qualified," as reiterated and defined by ed.gov, is a teacher that is fully certified, has attained her bachelor's degree, and has a sufficient knowledge in the particular subject area in which she teaches. These requirements are a fantastic start. Really. Especially on paper. However, to play the devil's advocate, who looks awfully school marmish, with a ruler in hand, and an apple on the desk, let's just bandy about the idea that being highly qualified goes beyond what the definition hints at, when discussing what makes a quality education. You may have heard it before, but if the teacher is uncomfortable with managing and disciplining the class, the highly qualified teacher, and her education, go out the classroom window. Oh, yes, I said it - the "D" word. The word that is the most significant, but simultaneously, the most obscured because it's constantly decorated as the elephant that's sitting in the living room, while everyone takes her afternoon tea, not with scones, but with blinders. Blinders, you ask? Yes! Blinders! Over her eyes, Sillies!
And, ostensibly, I do seem to be poking fun, but like any good satire, the satire is meant to stir a social awakening. If a teacher is not comfortable disciplining, is afraid to discipline, or is more concerned with not having the battles that go with asserting authority, then what good is the highly qualified person who isn't highly comfortable establishing herself as not only the facilitator of knowledge, but the facilitator of structure and boundaries, the two things that go hand in hand with education in the public sector? What needs to happen to not only facilitate teachers becoming more skilled in their craft, but to also facilitate the legislation in helping the teachers more effectively is to have an actual, highly-qualified, "doesn't mind getting her hands muddied with discipline, and other issues that affect the education of students daily" talking to the "higher-ups" in legislation. Come-what-may, having teachers being directly involved in the legislation of education, would, hold on to your hats, folks, improve the legislation of education! How about those apples ("those" being correct, as "them" is an object pronoun, and not a demonstrative adjective)?
And even though the teachers are the first, last, and major defense when speaking of education, the school districts do try their hardest to meet the educational goals put into place with legislation like NCLB, and any variants that are born from it. For example, in order to get English language learners meeting the demands of legislation, it is required that schools implement a program in which students labeled as English language learners (ELL), are put into an intensive English block of four hours. Oh, and, by the way, those hours are run consecutively. You will not find any lover of English whose ardor runs more passionately than mine, but honestly, four hours is a long time for anything. Especially, given that four hours of anything can squelch a love, passion, or quite realistically, any spark of interest in a given subject. We want kids to be English language lovers, and not English language detesters. And to top this all off, there was a meeting in which school districts were able to come up with their own version of the legislation's requirements. Out of a multitude of districts that presented their plans (anywhere from ten to eighteen), only one plan was accepted. And the reason was that the board changed some of the rules, midstream, without telling it, and all of the remaining districts' hard work and effort was for naught. So, to come full circle, what does get lost?
Our students. Our children. Our teachers who get frustrated, constantly. Our education of the students. And until legislation enables requirements that teachers have direct input in, it would be better if it were left to the teacher and her students.