<p>No Child Left Behind policy means most children fall behind. Teachers have to teach to the test, and make sure that the standardized tests get passed. Since most of that material is objective, kids are taught to repeat answers instead of thinking for themselves. Budget cuts don’t help, either. So more and more kids head off to college completely unprepared for the traditional college life of having to actually read something outside of class and be able to discuss it or write their own ideas.</p>
<p>It doesn’t help that technology has provided easy entertainment and instant answers to questions so that many kids today have not learned to read for pleasure or to research things for themselves.</p>
<p>My high school “B” student, who had had honors humanities classes in HS, was amazed by the number of kids who were completely stymied in college when the profs would ask them their opinions/theories about things that they read or discussed in class. Most of them wanted the profs to tell them what to think, so they could regurgitate that for tests and papers, just like in high school. Thinking for themselves was unheard of.</p>