On Thu, 06 Oct 2005 19:36:46 GMT, "Doug Kanter"
wrote:


"PocoLoco" wrote in message
.. .
On Thu, 06 Oct 2005 19:21:31 GMT, "Doug Kanter"

wrote:

"DSK" wrote in message
. ..

... The
teachers should do whatever is necessary to accomplish those
objectives.

Well, one way to guarantee that is to shoot the students most likely to
fail. Is this what you recommend?

The whole initiative is a joke. Testing is useful for measurement and
ego-boosting, but it doesn't address the real issue as I see it. Kids
learn
because they have good examples in their lives. This can include
either/or/and:

- Parents who display a high level of regard for learning, and pay lots of
attention to what their kids are doing in school. Doesn't seem to matter
if
we're totally incapable of helping them with calculus - it's the attention
that matters.

- Friends who do I-don't-know-what, other than positive peer influence.
Last
spring, my son said he was already overloaded with AP courses, and didn't
want to add AP physics. I goaded him, his counselor poked him, and
finally,
he said two of his friends started acting like cheerleaders and he changed
his mind.

I don't think you can get lousy parents to step up to the plate, but
there's
probably an imaginative way to incentivize high achieving kids to help
others. Maybe small scholarships in return for tutoring, or something like
that. Or, something more valuable than gold to teenagers: Gift
certificates
good at more than one mall.


Each year the students here are required to perform a number of community
service hours. The math department has set up a peer tutoring program in
which
students can receive credit for their service hours. The program works
well, and
many students continue with the tutoring well past the service hour
requirement.

Testing isn't a joke. Often it's the only way to get a parent's attention.
If
the kids have the good examples, parental and peer support, then the tests
to
show minimum competency aren't necessary.

It's circular anyway. Kids who want to achieve will do so regardless of the
tests. And, sometimes (as I'm sure you know), lousy test results have no
impact on parents. So, we end up with a generation who listens to a certain
politician mangle the language, and they consider it normal.


Most of those kids aren't watching the news. They're doing MTV or the Simpsons.

--
John H

"The trouble with our liberal friends is not that they're ignorant: It's just that they know so much that isn't so."

Ronald Reagan