Quote:
Originally Posted by rock
*si=buo&
It is because all they care about are the standardized tests. When a student is now going into high school, and doesn't know what the Holocaust is or even the basic principles of science, all they know is how to fill out multiple choice questions on a test.
I was learning Latin in 3rd - 6th grade. They cut that out of the school I went to. Arts programs are being cut because they want to spend more money on test preparation.
Teachers ARE NOT teaching anymore. They are just preparing them to test.
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And this is why NCLB and merit pay based on test scores are so ridiculous. Some teachers are threatened with being fired if all kids don't meet the state benchmark. What a great way to take creativity out of the classroom and take out anything that doesn't count for towards AYP (that would be anything except for reading and math). What a great way to be sure that only the kids who are "tippers" (within a certain number of points to the passing score, they could "tip" either way) and lower end kids get instruction at their level while higher level kids are bored and just sit in class because "oh, he'll pass the test, no worries!"
No child left behind is a crock. It's doing more to damage the creativity and learning that *could* be taking place in classrooms than any other reform in recent history.
Education does desperately need reform, but it is really scary the form that this reform seems to be taking in the minds of people who don't actually work with kids. I would also like to know when schools and teachers became responsible for doing the things for which parents used to be responsible. It seems to me that the public wants schools to raise kids, babysit them from morning to night, teach them morals, feed them 2-3 meals, perhaps even bathe them in some cases, get them to pass this all-important test. Oh yeah, and teach them a little something that's useful.
It's ridiculous the sentiment I hear all over the news that it's the teachers, "greedy" teachers, that are the problem, and they should all be fired. Seriously. Ridiculous.
<-- just a little frustrated with the US and "ed reform" right now