1Ann CousinsPersuasion SpeechTuesday & Thursday2:00-3:20May 1st, 2008Revision of the No Child Left Behind ActI. ATTENTION-GETTER A. Today, I would like to take you on a journey back to the days of elementary school. Close your eyes and try to remember your favorite part of the school day and ask yourself out of your favorite class or classes, which of those could you have lived without. Now imagine going to school each day and only learning math and reading and the past timeyou most treasured is non-existent. The picture I painted for you isn’t as farfetched as it may seem and is what the No Child left Behind Act is creating. II. SHOWING THE NEED: THE PROBLEMA. Problem Thesis Statement: I believe the No Child Left Behind Act is diminishing the educational system of America.B. Overview: First, I would like to discuss what the No Child Left Behind Act is, what it entails, and who’s affected by it. Then we will discuss schools that are lowering testing standards. Lastly, we will discuss what the No Child Left Behind leaves out in regards to education. C. Evidence:a. The No Child Left Behind act is an education plan that was put into place by President Bush on January 8th 2002, in hopes of improving the nation’s education system.b. Schools were required to emphasize studies on math and reading; leaving little room for history, art, science and physical education. I. No Child Left Behind requires states to test students on math and reading from the ages of 8-13 and once in high school. a. Schools that do not meet the standards on show yearly progress face sanctions. a. Such as a 10% reduction in funding (White House.)2.Some schools are lowering their standards to meet the No Child Left Behind requirements. a. The 10th amendment of the Constitution prohibits the federal government from regulating state school systems. I. However, if a state school wishes to receive funding from the federal government, they have to abide by their rules or give up the funding (Peplowski.)II. For example, in 2002 an article was published by the Greenhaven press, stating Michigan had over 1,500 “failing schools.” To meet the No Child Left Behind guidelines and eliminate schools from the failing list. Michigan reduced the Hypothetical illustrationComparison Repeat/EmphasizeExplanationStatistics TestimonyMark Peplowski Factual illustrationStatisticsFactual IllustrationExplanationStatement of FactStatistics: No Child Left Behind Statement of fact2percentage rate of passing students from 75% down to 42%. This eliminated about 1,300 schools from the needing improvement classification. III. Even in Texas, Bush’s home state, the 3rd grade reading level was so low, the school system lowered the number of correct answers needed, and so more children could pass the tests (Karp.)IV. According to the Economist, in Mississippi 90% of fourth-graderswere classified as proficient in the state reading test of 2006-2007, but only 19% of the students reached that level on a national test (Left Behind.)a. The point here is that instead of schools improving their standards and setting students up for success; the standards are being lowered and only setting students up for failure when they go into the adult world. With a less educated society, crime, violence, ignorance, and poverty will only prevail and I know, that is not the world I want my future children to grow up in. 3.Lack of funding for the No Child Left Behind act also requires schools to make several cut backs. a. As a child, one of my favorite school activities was physical education. The games and exercise were a nice distraction from the daily routine. I. Some schools have had to cut physical education class back within the curriculum to one to two times per week to save money for testing. II. A study conducted by the Centers of Disease Control showed girls who receive anywhere from 70-300 minutes of exercise perweek rank higher on standardized tests. Physical education also increases classroom participation and confidence levels (Why girls need gym class.)D. Meeting Objections: Many of you may be saying to yourselves, okay Ann I realize this is a problem, but why should I care. 1.You should care because at some time in your life, you may face problems with the No Child Left Behind act and have nowhere to turn. a. By acknowledging there is a problem early on, you can take steps to make a difference in the education system, so when you it is your child’s time to attend school, the issue has been resolved. III. SATISFYING THE NEED: THE SOLUTIONA. Solution Thesis Statement: I propose that the No Child Left Behind act should be completely revised, starting with teachers. B. Explain:1.If we can improve the teacher quality, then the educational system will be improved. TRANSITIONShow Visual AidExplanation Explanation Continued3a. I have to admit I would love to take credit for the solutions we are aboutto discuss, but I cannot. An article titled “Redirecting the Teaching Profession” gives a detailed list of how the teacher quality can be improved. I. Collaboration: Helps minimize the persistent isolation that teachers experience. II. Empowerment: Empowering teachers enables them to make important decisions and leads to teachers becoming more involved in activities within the school. III. Reflection: Testing students twice a year, once in the beginning and once at the end will allow teachers to measure themselves and the individual progress of each student. IV. Training: Creating ongoing developmental programs including new activities, such as peer coaching and study groups that focus on the individual growth of the teacher is imperative. b. Actions teachers can and should take:a. The teaching profession is not recognized financially andreputation wise in terms of being as valuable as it is. Also, people do not think of teaching as a glamorous profession. Teaching however is one of the most honorable professions one could choose. b. When thinking of your future career, many of you probably thought about being a doctor, lawyer, professional athlete or maybe something else. Either way, teaching probably fell to the bottom of your list. c. In an article by Cambridge University, the average salary of basketball players in the United States per year is 2.2 million dollars and the minimum they start with is 220,000 for their first year. Athletes are making tremendous amounts of money for pure entertainment.Now according to the National Education