Hello. Thanks for visiting! I’m author Victoria M. Young.
I am a “No Child Left Behind” parent. If you aren’t one yourself, it’s important to understand what that law did to schools. (A Conversation with Dr. Victoria M. Young – A Calling to Parents and Public on The War Report on Public Education with Host Dr James Miller Jr.)
As an involved, informed, and active parent of the No Child Left Behind era, I witnessed one of the biggest farces in public education EVER! I saw with my own eyes the damage my schools suffered at the hands of standardization and privatization.
No Child Left Behind was a weapon, not a reform.
Public schools have literally been under attack for decades. But not being a professional educator, I needed to be sure it wasn’t just me, reacting as a parent and a person that cared about the children I had volunteered to help. So I listened, learned, researched, and learned more.
Seeing children being “under-served” pushed me to look for a better way to provide quality education to all children. I went looking for real reforms.
What I found was the fact that real reforms were being ignored. Instead, the country had adopted unproven Market-Based “reforms” focused on test-score “outcomes.” Politics—corrupted by money and power—ruled the day and set the rules.
Me (Victoria M. Young) pictured with Miss Mia in 2009, the year Education’s Missing Ingredient was published. Miss Mia passed away, in 2020, at the age of 16. The War on Public Education? …. It continues.
My research left me frustrated. With stacks of statistics and proven solutions, a day came in 2005 when I was ready to quit and throw it all away. Instead, I put aside my career as a veterinarian (for a few years), took that mass of collected knowledge, and organized it into a manuscript.
It started out as Just a Parent and became Education’s Missing Ingredient: What Parents Can Tell Educators. I became a published author.
But my story did not end, nor did my research. And The Crucial Voice of the People,Past and Present, my second edition of Education’s Missing Ingredient, is one reason I’m still in the education reform war today.
Everything I wrote back then, sadly, still applies to our circumstances today.
And I continue to hear ordinary citizens, with commonsense and the human potential to do the right thing, speak what we know to be truths. Their voices need to be listened to and their wisdom acted upon.
Parents have been left out. Teachers have been pushed aside. And politics has overshadowed the crucial voice of the people.
So, that is what I’m all about — helping right the wrongs inflicted upon the public education system IN THE NAME OF REFORM.
I look forward to the day I can stop fighting against the dismantling of pubic schools and start fighting for that almost long-lost vision of a quality revolution in American education. The vision came from the Kennedy era and JFK’s pick to head the Office of Education.
This book clarified for me what the 1965 Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) set out to do.
I hope you’ll check out my books. And know this, I’m an e-mail away if there is anything I can help with. Just ask.
In a nutshell, citizen-driven school improvements need to direct and maintain control of the necessary revolution in American education.
What I believe — I know — is that we have the answers to the problems we have created. And remember…from the classroom to Congress, help is needed on every front.
If I can be of assistance in any way, (I love questions) please contact me at [email protected]
The Crucial Voice is ours.
Education’s Missing Ingredient is you.
Thank you for visiting my site. You can also find me on…
My Fears and Beliefs This is My Story Letter From a Teacher
P.S. About my activism, here is one more “About Me” from the Save Our Schools March conference (click on it to read).
About My Books
Thank you for your expertise, wisdom and insight on this most important matter Ms. Young, DVM. I am looking forward to learning from and working with you for our youth and future.
JMartinez, Ph.D.
I am proud of you and praying for your work. Change comes with action and you got that goin on.
I just read the LI Press article about standardized testing opponents in NY. Quite an eye opener, thank you for providing the link.
Love what you’re doing here! I just posted an article about the taxing of graduate stipends, proposed in the new tax bill–a ridiculous move that if successful, will crush graduate education, cripple higher ed (eventually no faculty to teach it!) and stand as an especially pernicious long-term destructive strike in the ongoing assault on education, first public and now private, in the U.S. I am using your article here as back-up for my post. As a fellow educator, I salute your efforts and pledge to stand strong with you!
Yes, the assault on the education of all citizens has been and continues to be on multiple fronts. We can only hope that once the house of cards begin to fall that their pretense of “reform” becomes obvious to all. The public has been fooled for way to long. We need more people to take a stand wherever and when ever they can. — And as you say, “stand strong.” Thank you.
Hi Victoria. I am using your “Assessing the Cornerstone of U.S. Education Reform” as a key insert in my first essay for Liberty University English 101 class. You have offered a treasure trove of information! I am excited to dig in, although I know it is way more than I need for my essay. Thanks for your passion and determination to get this out there!