Take Home Exam

We got our first take home test last night. Instead of getting a start on it, I'll share a bit about the class.

Last week the instructor gave us a copy of this article. Essentially, it is about how Native Americans raised their children and how White Europeans messed them up. Now the Native Americans are striving to fix the problem. If you liked the first part of the article, see installments two, three, and four.

Then last night we saw a video "Beyond the Standards Movement" by Alfie Kohn. He contends that all these standardized tests that are given in schools today are actually making things worse. I don't remember him actually naming the "No Child Left Behind" legislation and I didn't see the videos date, but it sure does apply. Some highlights:

• These tests focus on a child's performance, not what was learned.
• Learning becomes a chore, instead of an exercise in satisfying a child's natural curiosity.
• Children become focused on scores and attribute their self-worth or image to those scores rather than the effort they put into learning or studying.
• Children do not learn to cope with failing scores and are devastated by failure.
• Children chose the easiest path or task in order to get higher scores.
• The quality of learning suffers. Kids are given answers to memorize, rather than learn to ask for help and to learn how to get to the answer themselves.
• The point is to do well, not to learn how to learn.
• Multiple Choice tests do not give a child a chance to explain their reasoning.
• Timed tests test speed, not truly whether or not the child can answer.
• Tests are given too frequently. Not all kids can be at the same place of learning or development at the same time. Also, these tests stress kids out.
• These tests measure "forgettable facts" that most adults don't know - kids are coughing up answers.
• These tests rank and sort kids; don't tell us what the kids truly know.
• Kids are taught to the test, not to what they should know. Teachers may deny this, but most parents can tell you this is true.
• The USA tests school children more often than any other nation on this planet.
• Schools are directed by politicians rather than educators.

It's frustrating to take this course on Education and see how things COULD be. Our professor said that a large number (I think he said half) of teachers quit the profession after five years. Of course, no profession is perfect and all have their problems. However, our children are our future (not to be too corny) and we should take better care that we aren't churning out citizens that won't truly be able to take care of us (or themselves) when we are old.