Either/Or 10/03/07

There were several things in class today I did not have time to address in our presentation. There seems to be an "either/or" mentality which runs through the educational system today. We can either create equality in the educational system OR give freedom in the classroom. Giving equality to all schools and all students tends to mean mandating more exams. The only way we view equality is by giving structure. If each teacher is given what to teach and if we make more tests evaluating what is taught, then all students will be on an even playing field right? However, this creates more rigidness in the classroom and less of a passion to learn. Students who need that push and who need that drive will not get it. Kids will not want to go to school, they will find it boring and useless. Kids also won't feel the need to pay attention in class. Why even go to school if we can read up on the things being taught later, in our own home and at our own leisure? With more structure comes less passion. Students may all be taking the same test but who is to say they can all learn the same? Additionally, these students will be learning what policymakers tell them to learn. Going back to Gardener's theory, what about the kid who learns visually or spatially? If more tests are mandated and more structure is given there will be even less emphasis placed on the individual. Also, are all these tests good for young kids? I was in an Eagle Program at an elementary school in Brooklyn, NY. This program was supposed to be for "gifted" students. We did not have play time, we did not paint or fool around with toys, we worked. I learned spanish, math, english and science in Kindergarden. We had a limited time during the day and not even every day to go into other children's classrooms to play with their toys. We were not given that social opportunity, we were not given time to be five years old. This program made me hate school and I do not think it helped at all. My next year in school, I moved to Long Island and was placed with students who didn't know how to do math or read, I was only ahead for one year. Eventually, all the kids caught up and we were all on the same level, I just had to sit through things twice. Having those tests at such a young age placed a lot of stress on me, it did not make me appreciate the educational system. http://www.standardizedtesting.net/ This article talks about how unnecessary standardized testing is. It talks about how other countries do not administer these tests to children of such young ages, so why do we? These tests aren't even used to create equality and help children progress, they are used to evaluate school districts. There is no impact on the children, the focus is not even on the children, it is on the school and the people high up who want to keep their jobs and look good doing it.