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Achievement Tests are S.A.TanicJun 08 '00 (Updated Jul 27 '00) Write an essay on this topic.I needed a forum to express my complete dislike for over-reliance on testing to assess students. Having taught for 26 years in elementary school, I've come to know that testing is really the enemy. We focus, obsess, and just plain ruminate our brains off about how to score higher. Anal-Retentiveness is the new curriculum. This then takes precedence over real learning opportunities. All we're intimidated into caring about is scoring higher and higher each year. We're threatened with our jobs. It's so lame. Education loses, sure. BUT, the students (at any level) are the real losers. They're getting jipped and ripped-off. When the complaints surface about how wretched the state of our Nation's education is, it appears the way we/they address these concerns is to immediately test more often, make it harder for students to succeed, become more strict, and basically, that should cure all our learning ills. WRONG! It's a complicated issue. "Well, just throwing money at it doesn't do any good." WRONG! Money is the key problem. Paying teachers what they deserve as professionals whose job entails becoming surrogate parent, brother, sister, friend, counselor, confidant, cheerleader, transporter, and, yes, even teacher, is vitally important. Do we want the best ? Well, it's America, and you have to PAY for the best. Equally important is paying for appropriate teaching resources, tools, technology, facilities, programs that are rammed down our throats, and etc. So, money IS big. It does go a long way. The more, the better. There certainly seems more than enough to go around when it comes to building the newest luxury-box-filled pro sports stadium. And, at a time when the economy's booming better than ever, longer than ever, where's some dough for EDUCATION?! It's our future. It's everything. Yes, DO throw money. Larger bills appreciated. Sure, teaching children is rewarding. But, to test them into oblivion does no good. It's a harmful waste. It misses the point of education. It tries to quantify the total sum of something very elusive: learning. What a waste. Why don't we take standardized tests to evaluate how much we love our spouses? Or, an examination that determines how much taxes you must pay? Why not give a National Aptitude Test for all Americans? You pass, you can stay. You fail, you must attend intensive training until you do pass, or you must leave the country. It's all sick and demented. Quit testing and start teaching. Quit bubbling with your trusty #2, AND START LEARNING! We are not THE UNITED TeSTATES of AMERICA, for God's sake!  |
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