Dear George W. Bush,
You suck. "No Child Left Behind" has created a chasm. A separation of haves and have-nots. It has done the exact opposite of what you had anticipated. It has created standards that are unrealistic and unfair to the most impoverished schools in the United States. You have created a system where the lowest-achieving schools receive less funding based on how low their test scores are. Uhm, isn't that a little backwards? Shouldn't the schools that aren't high-performing receive more money in order to ensure better education, motivated teachers, healthier buildings, and smaller classrooms? Wouldn't that solve the problem of our education system? How is it that "No Child Left Behind" has left SO many students behind in the dust to drop out of school and live on the streets? Truly, shouldn't it be named "No White Child Left Behind"? That may sound cynical but I'm sick and tired of Whites always getting ahead in the system. Why aren't there movements, why aren't there uproars against the dominant culture's ideals. They are sustaining their lives at the expense of the most under-privileged. Why have these reforms failed? Because they are too focused on standardized testing and not focused enough on improving the quality of neighborhoods, schools, and students' lives. Can we PLEASE get a sociologist in the President's cabinet?