"Wrong Answer" Argumentative Formal Essay. Literature & Language Essay

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Article Response: Wrong Answer by Racheal Aviv-Argumentative Formal Essay
In the spring of 2006, Damany Lewis, a twenty-nine-year mathematics teacher at Parks Middle School, orchestrated on of the most massive public school cheating scandal in the U.S. Parks Middle School had been recording poor performance in the last six years. Lewis was sympathetic to his students and the school in general, and he had to make their students pass in whichever way possible. Furthermore, the community around the school had a history of crimes such as drug abuse and robberies (Aviv). Lewis, alongside his colleagues, had to show improvement in the school's performance; otherwise, they would receive disciplinary actions. Therefore, Lewis had to ensure that his students improved or otherwise, things would turn against them (Aviv). After well-calculated cheating, Parks recorded a significant improvement, which made them attract attention that made them receive many visitors to learn the methods they used to indicate that considerable growth (Aviv). Years later, several investigations were conducted, and Parks, alongside other 44 schools in Atlanta, was found to have been involved in exam cheating, which led to his firing. Therefore, the punishment that Lewis received for action was fair. Still, he should not be condemned but celebrated because it highlighted a significant problem associated with the No Child Left Behind reform.
The requirements under the No Child Left Behind and the Criterion-Referenced Competency was utterly devoid of some challenges beyond school and teachers' control. The Parks Middle School was located at Pittsburgh, most of the families where students came from living below the poverty line. Furthermore, the neighborhood was prone to drug use and frequent robberies. Lewis had been brought up in a similar environment in Oakland, California, which further justifies the reason behind his action to help students. Therefore, Lewis had tried to help students who faced several challenges from the neighborhood (Aviv). Furthermore, the school community had over ninety percent of blacks and failing to meet the set requirement, and Parks Middle School would expose their vulnerabilities. He would ask students to pack their clothes so that he could wash them, and also encouraged his students to sleep at his house when their parents were not around or when they were high (Aviv). Therefore, his move to help these students cheat the exam was caused by empathy and the efforts not to expose the blacks as weak race in Atlanta.
Furthermore, Lewis and his colleagues were put under enormous pressure ...