Yet, despite these odds, public high schools continue to perform very poorly on standardized knowledge tests. But with the current setup of
Higher education is important to most people, but there are times where it does not take priority. One major issue talked about by Magdalena Kay in “A New Course” is that teachers are teaching to the state test, and not to teach students knowledge. There are two perspectives in this article: one is from Magdalena Kay, an associate professor of English at the University of Victoria, and the other is Christopher Lasch. Christopher Lasch is a historian and a social critic, who does not have an inside sight into the educational system. Lasch is only able to express the perspective of an outsider, unlike Kay who has an insight because she is in the educational system.
In both Fahrenheit 451 and American society today, students are not encouraged to use critical thinking skills in school. In the novel, Clarisse wishes for a better education system that allows her to be challenged and interact with fellow students in profound ways. Students at her school do work that is meant to keep them busy and prevent them from thinking. This is also prevalent in today’s society, because teachers are concerned more about memorization than encouraging students to participate in meaningful discussions. In “A Society with Poor Critical Thinking Skills: The Case for ‘Argument’ in Education,” Shmuly Yanklowitz discusses the structure of the school system, and the lack of a curriculum that is based in argument.
In one school, the vice principal estimated that 37% of the month of October was given to testing, but only 33% of the students who took the test passed. The relentless and constant stream of tests force teachers to turn their class curriculum into a month long cram session that doesn't actually teach students. In order to cope, students learn to parrot back facts without any real understanding. A study conducted by Kyung Hee Kim of the School of Education at the College of William and Mary shows that creativity of American students has been in decline since the 1960s. Kim goes on the blame the “No Child Left Behind Program” as one of the reasons for this decline , stating that “Standardized testing forces emphasis on rote learning instead of critical, creative thinking, and diminishes students’ natural curiosity and joy for learning in its own right.”
In Report of the Massachusetts Board of Education, 1848 by Horace Mann, he talks about how the education system that is in place is corrupt in that it is more about teaching students facts and how to pass a class rather than truly learning something that could be used later in their lives. Mann says, “however elevated the moral character of a constituency may be, however well informed in matters of general science or history, yet they must, if citizens of a republic, understand something of the true nature and functions of the government in which they live” (Mann, p. 147). This quote proves that today, people never really learn anything on their own because they are always taught. Many schools, including my own, only teach their students to do worksheets, not to learn and remember the material. Students are given worksheets to memorize for the upcoming test but after that, the material they were supposed to learn is
Students spend most of their lives in an institution that hinders creativity and promotes mass assimilation. School districts nor teachers actually care about preparing students for the future; they are intentionally teaching in a minimalist way in order to keep the system from being broken. In the article “Education System Fosters a Culture of Conformity, Compliance” by, Claudia Feldman, she dives into how the education system is failing the students of today. She then uses metaphors and facts to back up her claims. In the article “Standardized Tests for Everyone?
However, many of the teachers disagree with the government’s form of standardized testing. Many believe that these test are pointless and should not be what measures a student’s intelligence. One teacher such as Jesse Hagopian stated that standardized tests don’t “…cultivate the type of thinking we need, and it doesn’t bring in the resources that we need to make students successful.” (Rich 1). It was later found that there was a connection between teacher pay and student standardized test results.
With the law “No Child Left Behind,” which requires states to test basic skills of students in order to qualify for federal funding, came a push for education to focus on mathematics and reading and cut back on other courses not being tested. Schools began to realize that the success of students in mathematics and reading was all that mattered, and eventually, students lost their chance of becoming well-rounded citizens by being taught in a wide variety of subjects. In the article, “Essentials of a Good Education” by Diane Ravitch, Ravitch addresses the law “No Child Left Behind,” standardized testing, and how public education has decreased our students’ ability to become effective citizens in society. In her article, Ravitch lacks true evidence and is opinionated, but she still presents a very convincing article based on her own political views and thoughts on education.
By having gone to only middle-class public schools, I partly agree with Anyon’s findings; it is mostly about getting the right answer and following clearly stated directions. I say this because although the earlier stages of my schooling were entirely dedicated to getting the right answers and following laid out directions, the latter stages were different. Getting the right answer was still important, yes, but the wrong answer was valued if you could explain how it was reached. Also, directions became vague, which called for creativity. The early and late stages of schooling I underwent were very different from each other in terms of creativity and correctness in answers.
“We don’t need no Education, at least not the traditional, compulsory, watch-the-clock-until-the-bell-rings kind.” In Ben Hewitt’s (Hewitt) article “We Don’t Need no Education” he brings up an interesting idea. An idea that children or more specifically his children do not need a traditional education. Instead of being confined between four walls, his sons, Fin and Rye, have a much larger classroom, the world around them.
The essay, The Seven Lesson Schoolteacher, by John Taylor Gatto addresses educational curriculum with a cynical truth that transpires around the United States. His brutal honesty grasps the reader by using common sense and a hint of sarcasm to appeal to humor. The main point of his argument in my perception, states that we must develop children to be critical thinkers and not always agree with authority. By allowing the schooling in a child’s development expecting them to not question an adult’s words does lead to a population that has accepted being dumbed down. Following what has been indicated, a direct quote positions people deprived forever of finding the center of their own special genius (Gatto, part III, pars 3).
Students learn a variety of ways and we have to adapt our teaching and lessons to ensure that all students are learning. We are educating the future, we are teaching students to become critical thinkers,
Meredith Broussard explains how standardized testing does not prove a child’s general knowledge nor creative in-depth thinking by stating, “Standardized tests are not based on general knowledge... they are based on specific knowledge contained in specific sets of books: the textbooks created by the test makers” (Broussard). Miner also states that standardized testing, “... leads to a dumbed-down curriculum that values rote memorization over in-depth thinking, exacerbates inequities for low-income students and students of color, and undermines true accountability among schools, parents, and community” (Miner). The assessment of a child should encourage a child to want to learn for the sake of learning. Alternative assessments could address a child’s development and learning process. These evaluations can determine why children are more likely to read behind grade level, instead of highlighting their inabilities.
“Educators are experiencing almost relentless pressure to show their effectiveness. Unfortunately, the chief indicator by which utmost communities judge a school staff's success is student performance on standardized achievement tests,” as stated by Popham. There needs to be a method where we have a necessity to find the answers to not only drill the same answers on a test like memorization, but on excelling on mastery of knowledge in all
Students under common core standards are often the victims of being “taught to the test”, or only given the information that will help them pass a test of the standards. Opportunities for individual exploration or delving deeper into a subject are lost in order to enforce common core. Young learners are only encouraged to analyze information from secondhand sources and firsthand experience is not a
