Impact of a Citizenship Program on Middle School Students

The focus on behaviour became an important feat to accomplish. The query was based on the disruptive methods students would use in order to circumvent basic rules and regulations within their learning communities. The old standard rule of teacher being in "charge of the classroom" with a mixture of a fear factor, (secretly diagnosed as respect) no longer was evident. President Bush's introduction of the No Child Left Behind (NCLB) mandates was brilliant with ist idea of inclusivity, but near eliminated accountability for those able students. Teachers became the main target group of this experiment in the promotion of all students. They became, scapegoats, if you will, of a system that made them accountable, and left those who should have been accountable in meeting educational objectives: administration, and more so, the student. Teachers became overwhelmed with teaching objectives and a multitude of paperwork to facilitate this new structure of responsibility. Actual teaching was foregone under the weight of segmenting students into their proper groups, then find the time to discipline and ensure that all pass the required end-of-year examinations.The result of these initiatives was to the repeal of NCLB, and schools becoming big business, with the teacher benefiting less under a continual weight of professional servitude, and the standard--no voice.