Saturday, June 16, 2012

Saturday Centus: Mired

I love Saturdays. Shortly after I awake I'm on the computer checking Jenny Matlock's blog to see what challenge she is going to put before us for the Saturday Centus. Jenny provides a picture or a prompt, and may suggest a style of writing. I let Jenny's challenge work its way through my mind. I turn it one way and another, trying to find an angle I like. Sometimes even I am surprised by the outcome!

This week's challenge is to incorporate the words, "has it really been a decade?" We are to add 100 words. A picture is optional.


Has it really been a decade since the “No Child Left Behind” legislation was put into law? The law stimulated sweeping changes in our education system, indeed. Teachers changed their practice to ‘cover’ the curriculum. Schools changed testing procedures utilizing hours of computerized exams several times a year. And school districts have specialists to crunch the numbers and deal with the data, reporting it and translating it for the public, to show progress made. The changes are cosmetic; a shining coat of paint on a crumbling system. Our system is ensnared in legislative cobwebs and our Nation is being left behind. We are mired in mediocrity.


To read more responses to Jenny's prompt, visit her blog by clicking on the image below.





11 comments:

  1. This is super! Catches the truth of this situation. Locally, the administration now has walk throughs...where EVERY teacher is to be on same exact page of cirriculum guide...yes, mediocrity producing for sure!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Have to agree, I'm sorry to say.

    Hope we can turn this around!

    "/

    ReplyDelete
  3. Interesting. I'll have to go over and take a look as well.

    Hope you're having a great weekend!

    Lana

    ReplyDelete
  4. It is actually ridiculous because some children are "Still left behind" and some children need to be ahead! ugh!

    ~Naila Moon
    http://writing-out-of-the-blue.blogspot.com/2012/06/my-fiancea-story.html

    ReplyDelete
  5. It is shocking to me what is happening in this country. And education lays the foundation for most of the rest and we are getting more and more behind. Politics seem to have gone to the extreme and no one can agree on solutions to anything these days.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Sorry, I also meant to say that you did a great job with your 100 words on that subject. It looks like a fun challenge.

    ReplyDelete
  7. Very well said and sadly so very true.

    ReplyDelete
  8. Here, here, I think this was one of the worst pieces of legislation ever passed.

    ReplyDelete
  9. EXCELLENT!!!! I am relieved to know that I am not alone in my thinking, Viki.

    When the Dalai Lama visited the White House, he told "W" he could teach him to find a higher state of consciousness. Then, after talking to him for a few minutes, he said, "You know what? Let's just grab lunch."

    I rest my case.

    ReplyDelete
  10. Mired in mediocrity.

    Gosh. That was wonderful phrasing.

    I write against the challenge like you do!

    Some weeks I think it's never gonna pop into my head, though!

    I really liked this...even though the system both saddens and sickens me.

    ReplyDelete

What thoughts do you have?

What is Four?

Have you ever thought of the meaning of "four"?  Four is the number of: seasons in a year. corners and sides to a square. virtues....