To speak against No Child Left Behind, it seems to be attempting a kind of equality through top-down legislation.   There are benefits and drawbacks to this, I suppose. 

Most of what happens that is truly valuable in education, obviously, can’t be quantified by such methods.   No Child left behind has reduced some schools to a reward/punishment system to attain government funding.   

Those of us who attended public schools are all too familiar with reward/punishment…and being swallowed by boredom…and busy work…and for Christ’s sake not another pep rally.   

So here’s a question?

WHy should the well-prepared, often highly intelligent, children of doctors and lawyers, diplomats and wealthy businessman, be involved in the project of public education at all?

What are the reasons and how good do they sound?