Considering our students, the education system has left me and many other students struggling with the weaknesses of constantly worrying about competing rather than teaching. The requirements and rationales of No Child Left Behind had a negative impact on me, due to teachers teaching the test to maintain their funding. The Common Core and No Child Left Behind are both driven by the numbers. While teachers focus on maintaining funding, the government focuses on placement and less on the minds of our future, our students. No Child Left Behind requires standardized testing, which requires students in a state to take the same test as everyone else under the program. same conditions. This is where NCLB and The Common Core are identical. Both laws participate in standardized testing. The difference between No Child Left Behind and The Common Core is their focus. The goal of Common Core is to prepare students for success in college. While NCLB focuses on high school graduation. However, the problem is the requirements. NCLB requires schools to make adequate annual progress. If the AYP repeatedly fails, changes are made starting with labeling the school, replacing teachers, and possibly even closing the school. Teachers are forced to teach the test to keep their jobs. The pressure to achieve AYP has created the process of “Test Teaching” or even changing test scores. I have reason to believe that my weaknesses are linked to No Child Left Behind. How can a student truly learn when he or she is full of answers instead of knowledge? K-12 has really failed us and I have come to the conclusion that my weakness is the effects of No Child Left Behind. I have a weakness for mathematics. Teachers... middle of paper... shouldn't have to walk around looking like zombies due to heavy workloads and stress because the government wants us to "get better". They call us lazy because we are not number one. How many generations will they call lazy? I believe those who set these standards are the ones who really need to educate themselves. There is no number one. Solutions exist to improve our education system and our future. The solution to improve our education system is one: stop using students for international competition. Instead of competing with other countries, we should learn from each other and help each other improve. Second, our standardized test scores should not be relied upon to obtain funding, which can disrupt the “teaching to the test” process. Our education system can improve if it stops focusing on numbers and more on our education.