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Politics : View from the Center and Left -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: epicure who wrote (6047)	12/4/2005 12:51:57 PM
From: Mary Cluney	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 543024

I understand why some people think the military approach is important- and where there are really bad teachers, that approach is probably to keep the teachers in line as much as to keep the students in line, That is ironic. Just as the Japanese and to some extent the Chinese, have acknowledged our superior educational system and are trying to be more like us and be able to turn out students that can think for themselves and be creative, we are trying to be like them. We had the best education system in the world. You could take any kid, from anywhere, with any background, and put him through our public education system and he could turn out to be anything from Nobel prize winning scientists to kids doing even more challenging stuff. Of course not every kid succeeded. The point is, the opportunity was there. What we are doing now is teaching to tests that are designed for some common denominator. Forget about science. Imagine some kid struggling in some science class and then he is taught to be skeptical of what they teach in science because there is an alternative and truer answer. "sheeesh, why do I have to struggle with this, it could be all wrong" .

To: epicure who wrote (6047)	12/5/2005 9:06:58 PM
From: JohnM	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 543024

I think the emphasis on testing has been horrible. Just discovered I had not responded to this post. Like the previous post which I liked, I also like this one. I'm very much of the same mind. What troubles me the most about teaching to tests is that it basically misunderstands the whole point of education. But we are clearly passing through one of those cultural moments that we should hope and pray will not hang around very long. And remember that education, k-12 and higher education as well, is filled with teachers like yourself who understand the real point is to expand potential and horizons, to understand the human spirit, to see the best and worst in our shared history and learn how to distinguish between the two.