Most Would Keep "No Child Left Behind"

While he was president, George Bush (with the cooperation of Sen. Ted Kennedy) passed some reforms to education in a bill called "No Child Left Behind". The bill rated schools by how many of their students did well on standard tests and tried to hold the schools responsible for failing to meet certain standards (a certain percentage of passing students).

The law has not had its intended effect -- to make schools better. But it has resulted in some schools altering their educational methods to "teach the test". It has become more important for students to pass the standardized test than to be educated and taught critical thinking skills. And most Americans recognize that the law has generally been a failure.

But surprisingly, a new Gallup poll shows that most Americans would like to keep the law. Only about 16% of Americans would completely do away with the law. About 21% would keep the law as it is, and about 41% would keep the law but make major revisions to it (while 22% said they didn't know enough about it to have an opinion).

And these feelings seem to cut across political lines. Democrats, Republicans and Independents all have similar feelings about the law. Here is the political breakdown:

DEMOCRATS
Keep it as it is...............23%
Keep it with revisions...............45%
Eliminate it...............13%
No opinion...............20%

INDEPENDENTS
Keep it as it is...............18%
Keep it with revisions...............41%
Eliminate it...............20%
No opinion...............22%

REPUBLICANS
Keep it as it is...............22%
Keep it with revisions...............37%
Eliminate it...............16%
No opinion...............24%

The poll doesn't ask the respondents what revisions they would like to see made to the law. I would hope it would involve less dependence on standardized testing and therefore less "teaching the test", while developing more critical thinking skills among students. I also think that less criticism and more help should be given to poorer performing schools (including adequate funding and more parental involvement).