#facepalm just isn't strong enough for this.
Monday, August 1, 2011
8 Reasons Young Americans Don't Fight Back: How the US Crushed Youth Resistance | AlterNet #uspoli
8 Reasons Young Americans Don't Fight Back: How the US Crushed Youth Resistance | | AlterNet
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Imagine reading a standardized test text, and answering the following comprehension and inferencing question:
ReplyDeleteWhy did the chicken cross the road?
Imagine you are in grade three. Give me a level-four (grade A) response.
The chiken crosd the rode...(level 1 (D)) to get to the other side (level 2 (C). Don't worry. Spelling is not important.) I know this becase in the story, the chiken herd from his frends that their was chiken feed on the other side, and the chiken was probibly hungree. Even though the story didn't mention the chiken actualy eating the feed, it did menshion that the chiken was full (level 3 (B)). I can connect to the story by knowing what it is like to feel hungree and therstee after a long hike. (level 4 (A))
The students are taught to give formulaic (sp? sic?) responses so that they can perform well on standardized tests. Understanding how to give formulaic responses is more important than thinking critically and getting into inquiry-based learning. Responding through a formula is more important than understanding a text.
In Ontario, the two most important subjects are Language Arts (now informally known as Literacy) and Math. All the other subjects are just fillers. We measure success by how well students perform on the Reading, Writing, and Math standardized tests. We don't care how well they create and explain their art work. We don't care about how well (or poorly) they can speak French. We don't care how well they can demonstrate and explain the importance of a particular scientific concept in today's society. We only care that they can write standardized tests so that families can move to good neighbourhoods and get their kids into supposedly great schools.
I should have added that by focusing on standardized tests, our schools fail to create future leaders.
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