I snatched this comments from the Jose Vilson blog. It’s related to my last post and his
Check it out. I think it’s pretty insightful.
Re: teaching to tests. In doing so, we give students the permission to forget. By saying you need to know this for the test implies that you don’t need to know it anywhere else. I am not at all shocked that students forget what they once knew for a big test. We live in a memorize, spew out, and forget educational culture. Still.
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I agree. But I see this not only in our youths but us adults to. Seems like there is no time to learn to really learn- you have to learn just to get ahead and once you are ahead you need to now “master” the next thing (for the moment) until you make your next move.
I home school. This year I’m doing k12.com GA Virtual Academy. I’m not sure how I feel about it. My daughter is in 3rd grade, but taking 4th grade work- I find myself teaching the test and EVERYTHING else…. poor baby…but I can’t have her “fail” their test just because I’m against ‘teaching the test’. *sigh* my baby is doing double work- 3rd and 4th grade work just to make sure she is ready for this 3rd grade state exam.
catch 22- I tried to home school to avoid everything I didn’t like about school systems- but they MAKE EVERYONE take these state exams. Which is crazy because out of one side you say “all children learn differently, at different paces…” then on the next you say “but all children in this grade need to be at this pace”