Reply #5: My best friend is a school teacher... [View All]

[liberalmuse]

the stories she tells me are appalling. Teachers are punished if their kids fail. She is paid a pittance, but tells me how teachers are under constant pressure and the threat of losing their jobs now due to Bush's 'No Child Left Behind' act. Good thing she loves her job and is an excellent teacher who likely won't have to fudge on tests in order to save her job.

I saw an informative news piece a few years ago about what Bush has done to the Texas school system. The teachers 'teach to the test' all year, just so the students will pass and their schools won't lose funding, and they won't lose their jobs. Many of these kids end up dropping out of college before finishing their first year because they do not have the skills to handle it. They are taught how to answer the questions on the test correctly, not how to think and solve problems. Very sad. It scared me then, when Bush was only a candidate, and it terrifies me now that he's trying to turn the entire country into Texas.