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New guidelines will better prepare students

I feel obligated to respond to the May 22 editorial, which expressed apprehension regarding the Department of Education seeking a way out of the No Child Left Behind legislation.

That well-meaning but extremely destructive law demands that each school must score close to 100 percent in reading and math for all students.

Not only does that law distort curriculum away from precious content area knowledge we vitally need in order to compete globally, but schools get penalized and kept in restructuring if all student groups can’t achieve at that level. This includes special education student groups that include kids like my autistic 7-year-old son who can’t speak, let alone read.

The law is poisonous and we are replacing it with tests that are geared to common core state standards. These new guidelines will get students ready for the rigors of college by teaching the academic content and process skills that make American academic institutions world class.

Nikan Alexander Arapoff

Wailuku

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