NCLB fair to most, ‘tough luck’ for some
Re: Editorial, “No Child Left Behind needs second look, changes,” March 3

The author of Thursday’s editorial on No Child Left Behind seems to suffer from the same disease that a lot of The Oracle writing staff seems to suffer from: Democrat’s Disease. This is the disease which causes Democrats to refuse and fail to take responsibility for their actions and instead shift the blame and burden on the so-called “evil” rich class. The edit pretty much took the approach that although the program seems good on paper, it has fundamental flaws. It stated that if a school does poorly, their “funding is cut.” Those three words are a clear lie or misdirection. Funding is not “cut,” they simply do not receive the additional funding that high performance schools might receive. So many of you might be saying, “Well close enough, the bad schools need the money to do better.”

Well I hate to tell you, but you’re all wrong. It’s been proven time and time again that money is not a solution to our public school system. The government has been pouring money into the system for decades and it continues to be the same schools that fail. President Bush’s program seeks to shift the responsibility from taxpayers to students, parents, guardians, teachers and administrators — the people who should bear the responsibility in the first place. It has been shown that involvement by family and guardians is the number one reason for improved academic performance.

Granted, there are many broken homes where students wouldn’t receive the same attention than those in functional living environments. However, that is no excuse. Students have ample opportunities to make up for the lack of parental involvement, whether through teachers, administrators or counselors. No matter how much funding a school might lack, these are three elements that schools have more than plenty of. If students and administrators fail to use these elements, it’s their own fault and quite frankly: tough luck.

Mark Vila is a sophomore majoring in political science and economics