Dave and I just got back from Minneapolis at a MERLOT conference and Dave raised the idea that this national group of educators covering most disciplines in higher education should be a policy making group. Why not produce a Merlot report on the state of education in America. The discussion moved to possible topics. Dave hit it out of the park. He wants to investigate the child that is left behind -- like the entire NBA.
There are some very successful individuals that meet this definition. College and becoming a nuclear scientist was not in their DNA. So, why should every student be defined as successful by meeting a college bound agenda? and a failure if they don't. There are many very successful careers that do not need this as a measure of success.
Then we should not make being left behind as a failure, it just might be a success. Glass half full, Glass really full. Just because the student's educational glass is half empty does not mean that there is only failure in the future for them.
If a technical school does not need the "standardized tests" it does not mean that the school or the individual is a failure.
What is illiteracy? Not enough English? Math? Who sets these rules. I am a musician - these standardized tests don't test anything that is really important to me -- music theory, playing the clarinet, writing world class songs.
So this might be the problem. We need more music in the standardized tests. Just get rid of some of the English and Math. All students must be able to play the piano and the oboe.
Yes, this could save the world.
Don
1 comment:
After the State of the Union Address is given, the opposition party is allowed time to present its views in the interest of balanced reporting. The federal government releases reports about the successes of NCLB, but we do not hear from those who oppose the program. Has anyone from CNN has been alerted to interview you and Dave? You clearly make your points about the absurdity of the prevailing philosophy(or lack there of)in education. There seemed to be no critics of NCLB at least in the early years. Perhaps we have not learned the lesson from the children's story, "The Emperor With No Clothes?"
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