[nikki1920]

My parents instilled college in me from a young age, because they both went later in life. My mother and I were actually in undergrad at the same time. I was always in advanced classes because I ENJOYED school. I had great teachers.

My high school was the academic magnet for the county at the time, and it was assumed that most of us would be going to 4 year colleges or at least some trade school. For those of us who didnt, they were STILL given the basics and were encouraged to be strong in them.

I do think that No Child Left Behind has completely screwed up education--there is WAY too much emphasis on testing and scores and not enough on long term retention. My child is able to read above her grade level (4th, she's at 5th grade, second month), and knows that if she doesn't know something, she needs to LOOK IT UP, not expect her parents to give her the answers. She is always encouraged to give everything her best effort, ask questions if she needs to, and ask for help the second she needs it. Not everything can be found on the computer.

I am scared for this generation. How you leave high school without knowing how to write a term paper is beyond me, but I had to write a 20 page final in 11th grade. I took 3 AP classes my senior year. These kids don't know how to use an encyclopedia, how to look up books at the library, etc. It scares me. Yes, computers are EVERYWHERE, but you still need to know what to do when the computers go down.