Resolved: That NCLB is a negative policy and should be terminated.

This will be my first debate on this site. With that said, I will take the Pro side of this debate and is open to any debater The education in America has been suffering for years and we have been falling behind other countries very drastically. Therefore, the U.S. government established the No Child Left Behind Act. The No Child Left Behind Act for education is not helping education. Pro Argument 1)Improvements cannot be linked to No Child Left Behind "The interaction of the NCLB policies has created an incentive for states to lower testing standards in order to avoid federal sanctions. Researchers have reported a pattern whereby states lower passing thresholds and otherwise "dumb down" assessments to boost proficiency scores and avoid federal sanctions under NCLB." Essentially, the standards set by No Child Left Behind require schools to lower their testing standards so that schools can still receive funding. Thus, just reading state test scores doesn't actually demonstrate an improvement in academic achievement, it demonstrates a fundamental flaw of the Act which is that it lowers the amount of achievement required to meet false-proficiency markers. From Dr. Ladner; vice president of research for the Goldwater Institute; Anywhere But Here: The looming Train Wreck of No Child Left Behind; Thursday, March 20, 2008; http://townhall.com...; 4/30/09. It is because testing scores in support of No Child Left Behind are inaccurate and skewed, while true measures of academic success demonstrate unfortunate problems with the teaching styles that stifle achievement. Also, the students, I would think, feel mandated in their school. Take, for example, my school. At Huron High School, the administration makes the standard for graduation a certain amount of credits to earn. I, for example, want to go to college to be a psychologist. I don't need a semester of PE to learn how to do that or world history for that matter. Those are unnecessary for my interest of study. Instead of having to learn about basic fundamentals, high schools should try to be more like colleges. Have certain fields of study; that way, we can get more students enrolled, have fewer dropouts, and have children increase their strengths. I for one am one of the absolute worst artists in my class. I don't want to waste my time getting frustrated over something that will have little to no impact on my life whatsoever. Therefore, make high schools a more college-based curriculum. Make people want to go to high schools, where there's actual variance between what sort of education can be achieved. Federal Underfunding The Bush Administration has significantly underfunded NCLB at the state level, and yet, has required states to comply with all provisions of NCLB or risk losing federal funds. Said Sen. Ted Kennedy, a sponsor of NCLB and Senate Education Committee Chair, "The tragedy is that these long overdue reforms are finally in place, but the funds are not." As a result, most states have been forced to make budget cuts in non-tested school subjects such as science, foreign languages, social studies and arts programs, and for books, field trips and school supplies. Deborah White, Writer www.about.com and Professor at UCLA; Pros & Cons of the NCLB Act; 7/04/08; Page 2, http://usliberals.about.com... ; 4/30/09. Also, in most countries, a 5 year-old child can expect 16-21 years of education in their lifetime, while in the United States a five year old can expect almost 4 years of education less than that during his/her lifetime, from OECD.org. If the Bush Administration really wanted our education to be caught up with that of other nations, don't you think that he should have made this one of his main priorities. Also, if schools score below what is expected of them, the government takes away even more federal funding. How can NCLB be effective whatsoever when the government first underfunds the schools then takes away what little money they contribute if they don't exceed expectations. NCLB has had a huge negative impact towards the U.S. Thank you and good luck to my opponent :)