No! Child Left Behind

Nerdhood came to me at an early age. I was the weird kid who loved to learn. At night I would sneak into the tiny hallway between my sister's room and mine and read random excerpts from our vintage Encyclopedia Brittanica set.

Imagine my complete incomprehension at having a daughter who doesn't enjoy learning. In my small brain, to dislike learning is akin to...disliking to breathe! School has been a bit of a battle these last 2.5 years. Sometimes a single assignment  takes hours to complete. Not because of difficulty of the assignment, but because of the unwillingness to get it done. As a result, homework time is dreaded by both parent and child.

Fast forward to the end of the school year, and report card day. B, B+, C, C+, N, N. What? What's an "N"? What happened to D & F?

Thanks to legislation for "No Child Left Behind", the report card reads like a feel good summary for the end of year, instead of the reality: my child failed 2 classes out of 6. But don't worry- she still gets to go onto the 6th grade, no educational help needed. Wait, what?