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Very interesting thread. I come from another part of the world
(Singapore), and I can relate to a lot of the things being discussed.
What we have here is the Primary School Leaving Exams (PSLE), taken by
kids once they reach Primary 6 (6th grade). As early as Primary 1, I've
seen many parents already stressing their kids by enrolling them in
extra classes in Math and Science and it's usually on the news that kids
report of being overstressed at this young age.
I never liked tests myself, and I can see how my son (now Primary 2) is
feeling the stress of getting good marks this early. Definitely, I
believe all this has no actual bearing in real life. Did abstract
reasoning help me in any way, especially in this job? No. Anyway,
homeschooling has yet to take off over here, and maybe someday I can
give my kids the education that will be more meaningful to them.
Thanks everyone for validating my concerns. It's very reassuring.
Yvette A. Denoga
Technical Communication
-----Original Message-----
From: techwr-l-bounces+yvettedenoga=crimsonlogic -dot- com -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com
[mailto:techwr-l-bounces+yvettedenoga=crimsonlogic -dot- com -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- co
m] On Behalf Of Sam Beard
Sent: Wednesday, May 16, 2007 6:30 AM
To: Chris Borokowski; techwr-l -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com
Subject: RE:
Hey All,
Texas has something called the TAKS, or Texas Assessment of Knowledge
and Skills. Basically, this is a test "designed" to assess how well a
student learns at certain points of their school career. However, it's
also tied, in many cases, to ratings for the schools and, therefore,
raises and bonuses for school administrators and others, IIRC.
Therefore, it's HIGHLY politicized and many teachers end up teaching
simply to pass the TAKS test, not necessarily because they WANT to, but
because they HAVE to. This is tied directly to NCLB.
Many people are good at taking tests without necessarily knowing the
material very well. Also, many people are not so good at taking a test
(for many reasons, including "stage fright") but know the material VERY
well. This doesn't really match those latter people very well, but does
a very good job of allowing the former to pass without really being as
qualified as they really should be.
Recently, some schools around Texas, including the Houston
Independent School District (covering all of Houston's schools) are
attempting to get rid of the TAKS and revert to end-of-year tests,
arguing some of the same points I've listed here. My only hope, if they
succeed, is that this doesn't also become so politicized and burdened by
so much pressure that school administrators sacrifice quality for
quantity.
Our son goes to private school, at the moment, and they're not tied
to the TAKS test. Instead, they use a different set of tests that seem
much more related to actual knowledge the student possesses rather than
how well they take a test or how well they know the material ON the
test. So many teachers in Texas public education simply teach the
students what they need to know to do well on the TAKS. There is a LOT
of things missing in this approach.
On a similar note, so many teachers have to teach to the lowest
common denominator, plus a slight level, perhaps, because of the wide
variety of students and their learning styles in the teacher's classes.
Small class sizes, or those that group students on abilities, seem to
make more sense to me. However, now that I think about that, I remember
reading some reports not that long ago that some schools were removing
the listing of the honor roll students and such as that from newspapers
and the like because "not all kids are capable of becoming honor roll
students and we don't want to hurt the feelings of those that aren't on
the list." That doesn't really seem to make much sense to me, either,
but there you go.
Samuel I. Beard, Jr.
Technical Writer
OI Analytical
979 690-1711 Ext. 222
sbeard -at- oico -dot- com
-----Original Message-----
From: techwr-l-bounces+sbeard=oico -dot- com -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com
[mailto:techwr-l-bounces+sbeard=oico -dot- com -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com] On Behalf
Of Chris Borokowski
Sent: Tuesday, May 15, 2007 11:02 AM
To: techwr-l -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com
Subject: Re:
It seems that these days, the first two years of
college are remedial high school education, and then
post-graduate education is required for what a college
degree once certified.
I knew a neighbor who had been a career teacher for
forty years, and his diagnosis was that the
educational system is afraid to remove behavior
problems and put slower kids in slow classes, so
everyone else has to wait, and in the mean time their
education evaporates.
My wife is a teacher, and from what I can tell, these
issues are so politicized that there's no solution in
sight. Homeschooling becomes more popular every year,
and that is what she is now recommending to concerned
parents.
--- Joanne Wittenbrook <jwittenbrook -at- ameritech -dot- net>
wrote:
> There was a time when a career teacher could
> support a family. It hasn't been that way for a long
> time. There was also a time when a high school
> education was considered enough to get a decent job.
> I got out of high school with far better reading and
> writing skills than many of the young MBAs I work
> with have.
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