I have been following with interest AJC’s education blog Get Schooled today, as Georgia released the results of schools’ performance for AYP.  Sometimes the comments on that blog get fairly nasty, which, let’s face it, is entertaining if it isn’t directed at you and takes place on someone else’s blog — I have had to teach myself to try as hard as I can to ignore negative stuff written about me elsewhere or comments in my blog, because I get my feelings hurt too easily — not really a good trait for a blogger if you are trying to incite discussion, is it? 🙂  Anyway, I came across this comment on Get Schooled that really made some wheels in my head turn.  Here it is:

I thank my lucky stars every day that we are in our own school system with only one middle and one high school so we do not have to face the transfer chaos that Tucker and Shamrock faced. I am absolutely amazed that Shamrock made AYP after what it went through. Congratulations!!!!! It must be a kick butt school!

When will everyone realize that NCLB is designed to destroy public schools (I am sure that Mr. Liberty is thrilled). First the low performing schools fall… then it is only a matter of time before all schools fail because of taking transfers of gobs and gobs of low performing students and because by 2014 – all measured groups must have 100% meets/exceeds rates.

What will happen when the Walton Highs, Chamblee Middles and Vanderlyn Elementaries of the world don’t make AYP (and they won’t by 2014). Where will those kids transfer? – to private school? – you guessed it! Vouchers here we come. Bush has tried to get vouchers into NCLB for years, but Congress kept dropping it from the bill.

No neighborhood schools, no kids learning and growing with their buddies up the street, no critical thinking, no creativity, no recess, no summer vacation, no arts. Just a bunch of fat kids who play video games alone at home and practice bubbling in sheets with factoid questions all day at school but can’t answer a question requiring anything but the most linear thinking. … and we will just go ahead and hand over our economy to the Indians and Chinese.

Brave New World Indeed.

If you don’t like NCLB, do your darn research and do something about it – quit complaining on these boards and write your politicians. There is a lot of big business power behind NCLB (all the testing and tutoring companies) but they do not have nearly as much money/power as the businesses that used illegal labor – so we still have a chance to turn this ship around – at least at this point.

I have a bumper sticker on my car that reads, “No Child Left Behind… from the folks who brought you the Iraq War.”

…. and I’m a Republican (at least I used to be).

Ugh! This NCLB stuff gets me so burned up I could spit.

My question is, what do you think about what this commenter said?