by Ernest Smartt

Created on: October 12, 2008   Last Updated: May 03, 2009

What will it take to increase literacy skills and programs on a national basis? Are more programs needed? Are the programs that are already in place working, or can they work? What does it take to improve literacy skills? Do the schools really need the government money, if it is tied to a list of rules and regulations?

"Success is not necessarily permanent, but then neither is failure."

While the government cannot step in and take over, it is nice to have a helping hand from them, from time to time. Where there is success, we strive to grow, where failure happens, we pick up the pieces and move on. Government money comes in handy, as long as it is without strings attached. Government money certainly could help lead to progress in the American education system. With a touch of political incorrectness, what you are about to read will put some truths into the proper perspective.

The government often steps in, invited or not, to makes attempts at improving the education system through programs. Many of these programs were thought up by politicians, or maybe even educators, but they were not well thought through.

For example, Standardized tests, "No Child Left Behind" and a few others have proven to be unsuccessful, but because they are government initiated, and funded, they seem to have to continue, even in failure. Programs like the "Head Start" program have been successful to some degree, but that may be because they have been given over to educators to design and operate. Freeing the educators up to make a program succeed is the main thing that the government can do to increase literacy skills and programs nationwide. Government has, and demands far too much control of these programs. Not only have they failed, they have caused the system, in many cases, to take steps backwards. With that as a backdrop, the question is, is there something government can do that will help?

With the standardized tests, and the massive weight that the government has placed on them, our children have been robbed of a true education. Schools are teaching to the test. Some teachers try to do more, but the time it takes to practice and teach for the tests is taking away from the time they need to do real teaching. While the standardized tests are used to evaluate the schools and teachers, they have become a wall for some students that will prevent them from walking across the stage with their class to grab hold of what they really have earned, their diploma. At the same time, it is not

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