Post by brassmonkey on Sept 23, 2008 9:56:07 GMT -5
There is a new movement among some very lazy and intellectually dishonest people in academia to ban the MCAS on the gounds that more and more kids are failing it.
Let's face it-kids need to be tested to ensure that they're learning.. My problem with the MCAS is that it's got schools so scared that they're "teaching to the test." This is causing kids to be turned out able to do english, math and science, but knowing nothing about history and other subjects that used to be covered very nicely.
I went to a private Catholic school, and that's got nothing to do with the learning aspect of it, because religion doesn't change the ability to test kids. Thing was-we just tested in each class along the way to make sure we were proficient in each individual subject. It wasn't a buildup to one big bulldog test at the end of the year. And I would pit my high school education against any public high school in existence today. I talk to public high school graduates today, and I'm just amazed that they could have been given a diploma. More often than not, I hear, "I ain't got none," or "I ain't never done that." These double-negatives are just the icing on the cake of the ignorance that is rampant in today's high-school graduates, because many teachers hesitate to correct them for fear of hurting their precious little feelings or being accused of ignoring their "cultural" differences...
Testing to ensure that kids are learning is obviously important, but we can't teach to the test... WE have to turn out well-rounded kids ready to contribute to society.
Let's face it-kids need to be tested to ensure that they're learning.. My problem with the MCAS is that it's got schools so scared that they're "teaching to the test." This is causing kids to be turned out able to do english, math and science, but knowing nothing about history and other subjects that used to be covered very nicely.
I went to a private Catholic school, and that's got nothing to do with the learning aspect of it, because religion doesn't change the ability to test kids. Thing was-we just tested in each class along the way to make sure we were proficient in each individual subject. It wasn't a buildup to one big bulldog test at the end of the year. And I would pit my high school education against any public high school in existence today. I talk to public high school graduates today, and I'm just amazed that they could have been given a diploma. More often than not, I hear, "I ain't got none," or "I ain't never done that." These double-negatives are just the icing on the cake of the ignorance that is rampant in today's high-school graduates, because many teachers hesitate to correct them for fear of hurting their precious little feelings or being accused of ignoring their "cultural" differences...
Testing to ensure that kids are learning is obviously important, but we can't teach to the test... WE have to turn out well-rounded kids ready to contribute to society.
