www.washingtonpost.com: You are a college professor.
I have just retired as a high school teacher.
I have some bad news for you. In case you do not already see what is happening, I want to warn you of what to expect from the students who will be arriving in your classroom, even if you teach in a highly selective institution.
6 comments:
I remember when the "DSTP" or Delaware State Testing Program was enacted when I was in 3rd grade. My class is in fact, the class of students that was subjected to the full gauntlet of standardized testing. When I was in high school, I saw how dumbed down things had to be for people to understand them. And I saw how the tests were taught to in my AP classes, even after I no longer had to take the state tests. It's a bit of a sickening system, all about education companies trying to make a few million by lobbying that their textbook or method is the next best thing, and should be promoted federally. I hope that my class doesn't seem so slow and incompetent. I understand completely where this article came from, and I do support the author's point of view and can first hand validate that the public education system is offering low standards. But, it's a scary thought that this is the general impression that older generations have of my generation. What does this mean when we go out for jobs? Will age prejudice impact our generation because employers don't want to hire the "incompetent" generation?
This is terribly sad, and so true. I agree with what Kelly has said above. At my high school, more than half of my school's student body was in 3 or more AP classes. While some of the classes were extremely difficult and some were a walk in the park, they all had one thing in common: they taught for the test. On the first day of class every year, my teachers would explain the skills we would need to gain over the school year in order to score well on the state and AP tests. I see two problems with this. The first is what the author of this article is expressing, the fact that kids are being spoon-fed the skills and formulas necessary in order to score well on the tests. I do not blame teachers for this issue, as their jobs are on the line. In addition to this "sickening system," as Kelly stated above, I believe that children and young adults are starting to completely lose the joy of learning. I remember always asking in school "How does this apply to the real world?" and my teachers rarely were able to give me an answer. To me, that is really sad, and I do not blame this man for feeling so discouraged with our country's education system.
This is an interesting article as I have many strong opinions about the state of our public school system. I am curious exactly what this teacher taught during his career and exactly what perspective he has on the situation. Yes the recent and up coming generations of high school students seem to be in this "spoon fed" way of teaching because schools are mostly concerned with test scores and student attendance. There is not enough concentration on whats important anymore, like Jess said how does this actually apply. I also strongly feel that far too often students are forced to feel that the only way to be a "good" student is to over schedule yourself with AP classes and that if you dont kill yourself over getting into the top college your a failure. The truth that people dont want to see is that not everyone is meant for college. Students who have the skills and the capability of high stress and reference mass amounts of information in a moment high stakes decision can graduate high school take one community college course and make a career as an Emergency Medical technician. High school shop classes that are all but extinct gave high school students the opportunity to see if they enjoy working in the field of metal working, or automotive dont need to go to a high dollar college to do what they love and have a rewarding career.
I remember how Susan Tsu recently mentioned about how nowadays, students are stuck in focusing on good grade that they don't try to think broad or uniquely. Even by reading at this article, this is making me sad because I am not the exception of this society. I definitely agree with what Sean said about being a "good" student is to over schedule yourself with AP classes.Even in my high school, some of my AP teachers only focus on the materials that will mostly appear in the test not with the materials that will be useful or important in the past. They also teach us a trick or method of solving multiple choices by eliminating each choices. I don't really know from when the grade became so important that determined someone's failure or success, but I think this is definitely unfair or ineffective way since each person has different strength in different fields. Confining each one's success in a good grade seems too cruel. I hope that in the near future, there is shift in learning styles that each person is able to fine what they love to do not what they have to do.
First off I would like to say that I agree with Kenneth Bernstein as well as the other people who have commented on this post.
Why isn't Kenneth Bernstein saying sorry to me. My class mates and I are the people who have been wronged here. So maybe a college professor doesn't get to have amazing students for a few years because the government made some stupid polices. It's the students who didn't learn all that they could and have messed up feelings when it comes to gold stars and the first six letters in the alphabet(expect E).
As I read the article I thought to my self "I'm so sorry for all though kids who I grew up with that are negativity effected by this stuff, I'm glad that I don't focus on grads and only care about what's going to be on the test." Then I read the comments and saw that all of my CMU peers thought just the same thing. Now I'm not saying that the people who made those comments are incapable of free thought and that they personally are stupid or uneducated due to no child left behind and AP testing. But maybe I am just telling myself that I came out ok from the public school system because I don't like to think that I'm disadvantaged. And maybe all of my peers are telling themselves the same thing. I know that in high school I would ask friends why they took so many ap classes and focused so hard on getting perfect grades in classes they hated and didn't learn in. They never had good answers for me because they didn't see it that way at all. So maybe my whole generation is walking around feeling bad for the rest of the generation because they are "educated" and that they were brilliant enough that they can still think outside the box. But in reality we're all messed up.
So my question is: What should I do now? How can I undo or at least minimalism the harm that over testing did to me in public school? I go to a college to that still puts a ton of importance on grads and I still take tests to prove to teachers that I have memorized facts. I don't personally need to change the national education system, I just want to be smart and free thinking and able to apply what I learn to the real world, but just maybe I was never taught to be my own teacher.
Like my classmates I whole-heartdely agree with this article, but I do have a slightly different perspective on the topic. I did not discover standardized testing until 9th grade, since I had been educated in French schools my whole life prior to entering high school in the US. And for a while, I didn't understand. I didn't understand the concept of standardized tests (in France, the only exams administered nation-wide are at the end of 9th and 12th grade, at the end of junior high and high school), I didn't understand why mutliple-choice tests were considered a valid form of evaluation, and I was confused as to what the point of all this was. Upon being explained the No-Child Left Behind policy, I was even more confused. It is so saddening to see the result-driven culture that has emerged from a bad policy, and I truly hope that teachers' and students' voices an be heard and that the problem can finally be tended to.
Post a Comment