Report Card

In response to the article “Hard Lessons” from the December 8th Time Magazine (P. 22 – United States: Education)

At about 2:25, on Friday, December 5, 2008, almost all CDNIS grade twelve students were filled with adrenaline. It was the day the brown envelope of fate would be handed out. Within a few minutes, sighs, exhilaration and different kinds of extreme emotions, some of which are not even named yet, filled the hallways. The moment that is greater than Obama’s historical victory day has come. In the midst of chaos, I stared at my own envelope and began imagining my life as a Washington, D.C. high school student.

While we begin preparations to get more As and Bs, the United States is struggling with students earning Cs and Ds in their public education report card.

U.S Public Education: A Report Card

Accountability
D
-Only 1 state uses teacher-effectiveness data in teacher evaluation
-The No Child law emphasizes accountability but not necessarily in a productive way

Teacher Quality
C
-34 states don’t test basic skills before teacher-prep programs
-Better compensation and improved training could attract and retain more effective teachers

Standards
D
-34% college students enrolled in remedial courses in 2004
-States set their own academic standards, and they don’t appear to be nearly high enough

School Choice
B-
-15% students enrolled in public schools of choice in 2003*
-Charter schools have grown, and the No Child law allows students from bad schools to transfer

Infrastructure
C
-3.8 students per instructional computer in 2006
-The federal government has spent more than $18 billion on educational technology since 1998


While we worry about not getting into our top university choices, in Washington, D.C. the Anacostia High School is wondering what to do with its 24% graduation rate. More than 76% cannot graduate from that school. While we worry about our math mark not looking impressive because of the extraordinarily high 89% course median, in Washington, D.C. only 36% of high school students are proficient in math. While we are complaining to teachers not having enough free time because we chose to commit ourselves to a variety of activities, Allante Rhodes, a senior at Anacostia high school in Washington, D.C. is in his Microsoft Word class staring at an antiquated computer that works only six out of fourteen times.

On November 19, Rhodes had to evacuate his school when brutal fights broke out and three students were stabbed. Rhodes is still reluctant to use the school’s bathrooms because they are filthy and unsafe.

This is the public education in the capital of the world’s leading country.

So what then, is the difference between our education and theirs? Why is there such a wide gap between them and us? Why are we so much better than them? And why do we need to?

According Ms. Safaya, it is because of over-population. I agree, but I want to take a step further by saying it is because of elitism. The world’s population expands at an uncontrollable rate everyday, and it is impossible for everyone to have a good education, good work and a good life. To have a good life, we must prove ourselves worthy.

The U.S. public education fails because of its No Child law. This law states that every child should receive education, no matter what. This certainly is a praiseworthy ambition, but it is unrealistic and does not motivate a student to excel. There is not enough human resource, good teachers, capital resources, and technology to educate everyone in Washington, D.C. The No Child law conflicts with the global phenomenon of elitism.

Elitism is unstoppable, and we can see this in our own school. We, CDNIS, are among the elites, even though many cynics within the school simply do not recognize how privileged we are. We struggle with the ever-rising standards, one of which is the notorious IB. We do not seem to have a choice to fall back, because if we fall back, then it will be even harder. In this light, we can only follow the flow.

It is scary to think that just stopping and taking a break will result in our falling out of the global race to elitism. As I am struggling, I wonder how much more will the future generations struggle?

I stare at the brown envelope again. Words that people said to me because of my marks rang in my head once again. “Here comes the lucky guy!” “Here comes the math master!”…I wonder what has this brown envelope become. And what have we become.