Since early 2007, the Democratic Party has not run a platform free of hits on President Bush; far more than a full year before the primaries even started. One of the “hot buttons” or “wedge issues,” is the No Child Left Behind Act and its failures. Void of minor structural flaws concerning poorly planned details and number, the act is fundamentally sound.

In a day and age where India, a potentially important economic and military ally, produces some of the planet’s brightest and most well-prepared young people at a rate previously unheard of, we can’t afford not to mold our young learners. China runs a far more rigid education system when compared to the changes No Child Left Behind has made to our public schooling.

Opponents to this argument might point out China is a communist country and this is the nature of communism to provide a lemming education system. If China was truly communist, one could agree. However, to insinuate that China is in fact a communist country is to suggest that the government enslaves citizens as workers for the country.

At the rate the Chinese export and produce material products, China would be a country full of indentured servants to the government if it was communist; but reality isn’t hard to find. China is most certainly very capitalistic and the communist tie is merely for show.

The United States and China are truly in an economic battle for the title of international superpower. It’s quite obvious we aren’t perceived well internationally and somehow China is rarely mentioned when the issue of human rights and oppression rears its falsely portrayed head. China educates its youth with purpose and rigor, as should we.

Japan’s model of education is career-oriented from the very start. The international community holds us to a higher standard, and we hold ourselves to a higher standard, and quite frankly what for? Democratic reasons? Yes. Land of the Free? Yes. But we have a reputation and goals nationally, and to sacrifice them at the whim of every critic is counter-intuitive.

Ultimately, we live in a country of people with corporate aspirations at the most ambitious plateau of the educated. Those creative and self-motivated enough to work in small business will do so of their own accord and it simply wouldn’t hurt our learners to learn things that will actually hold relevance. Standardized tests are gateways to a corporate mindset and the earlier such a system is implemented, the more success children from less privileged upbringings might see.

So the question is raised now with the elections around the corner and the Democratic mainstays polling well and opposing the act in their campaigns. Will the No Child Left Behind Act be repealed? It needs to be mended, even supporters can agree on that, but to dissolve a program so well intentioned and for lack of a better term, patriotic, would truly be a shame.

Columnist: Sam Gendell - 10/03/07