One more thing

I know I've been posting a lot today. The number of posts will decrease as time goes on, but as I was reading an article for my education class assignment, I came across this and thought I would share.

Time is kinda short and since it wouldn't let me highlight the text, I'm just going to post a screen shot of the section.

This comes from "The No Child Left Behind Act and Teaching and Learning Languages in U.S. School" by Marcia Harmon Rosenbusch, Director, National K-12 Foreign Language Resource Center, Iowa State University - taken from The Modern Language Journal, volume 89, Issue 2, Article first published online: 23 May 2005.

The author(s) suggest these methods to prevent or perhaps even reverse the cut-backs to foreign language programs on account of the No Child Left Behind (NCLB) Act.

I have to admit, the more I read about the effects this act has had on our country's education systems, the more apprehensive I am to become a foreign language teacher. What with the economy tanking, finding jobs is hard enough as it is. Now on top of that we have to deal with losing our jobs to standardized testing that doesn't even really measure the knowledge of the children? How is this helping
anyone is what I would like to know.

In my FLANG class, there are only 3 of us that are striving to become German teachers. The other two, Keri and Laura, told me they want to leave the US and teach somewhere else. I have no plans to do so for personal reasons, but it sounds like a good idea.

Why doesn't the United States seem to value foreign language? Or the arts, for that matter? Or... I don't know. Anything else that's getting cut back?

I was in high school while this program was still under way (and it still is, naturally) and I remember the teachers being afraid of losing their jobs. I'm from Pennsylvania where I know the programs have been hit hard. I was in an upper-middle class district that had primarily white students. Under those circumstances, one would think the programs would have nothing to worry about. That's what all the research says, but it's not true. Even there things were tanking. In my French 6 class (the highest level offered in my school) we had 5 students. There were approximately 1,7oo students in my school at the time. French was the second largest foreign language program (second to Spanish, naturally). What does that say about it?

Of course, some of this tells you something about the students. I'll admit, most people don't love language as much as I do. But that wasn't the entire problem.

The sports program didn't experience ANY cuts at all. In fact, they got a brand new football field the year I graduated (the same year I was in French 6). Our football team and won only 1 game in the past 7 years - and to the second worst school in the state at that (ours being the worst). How does that seem right?

If "No Child Left Behind" is supposed to be helping the kids in public schools... I'm not seeing it. And I don't understand why Congress refuses to act no matter how many people try to tell them that this system isn't working. It's just... wrong.

The languages being cut out of schools are (typically): Chinese, French, German, Hebrew, Italian, Japanese, Latin, Russian, Spanish, American Sign Language, and English as a Second Language (as cited in the same article as above).

What languages are left? Czech? Hindu? Korean? All good languages, but none (save perhaps Hindu?) are as widely spoken as the others listed. Spanish is especially important in this country and Chinese is supposed to be the new Spanish. What use is there in cutting our kids off from the rest of the planet?

And if MY school was affected by it, imagine how poorer schools are being effected.

Why won't Congress do anything to stop it? I just don't understand.