BoatBanter.com - View Single Post

hk

On 5/5/10 9:47 PM, wrote:
On Wed, 05 May 2010 20:11:40 -0400,
wrote:

Unfortunately they are a fact of life and the sooner kids learn how to
take a test the sooner they will succeed in the 21st century society.
In Florida you can't even cut hair or do fingernails without passing a
standardized test. Obviously, as you pointed out, all "professions"
use tests for a benchmark. It is also the key to getting into a decent
college, getting a decent job in the military or even things as
mundane as a driver's license.
Without test skills your only paths to success are as a rock star,
athlete or drug dealer.

The problem with putting the onus on classroom teachers for the
performance of their charges is that the teachers have no control over
the kids' environments outside of school. Educated adults who take exams
in order to practice a profession can take virtually all the time they
need to prep, and they can, within reason, control their environment.
Lots of kids who do not "achieve" have a lousy home life and that
diminishes the ability for many to prep for standardized tests.

I have no problem with separating these kids out for additional
attention and special remedial classes. That may be where more money
should actually be spent. The problem is, this would be seen as de
facto segregation and it wouldn't take a semester before the school
board was sued.
By a like token, it is hard to create programs for the brightest
students (or just the ones who have helpful families at home) because
the demographics will not usually meet muster with the deseg
agreements the school system has to abide by.

Well, then, putting the onus on teachers thusly seems like an impossible
burden. Certainly teachers are responsible for teaching with appropriate
methodology. Students and their parents are responsible for learning. If
the teachers are teaching properly, but the students and their parents
are not holding up their part of the bargain, well...you have
failure...no matter how well the teachers perform.

--
The Tea Party's teabaggers are just the Republican base by another name.