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One of my favorite stories regarding an elementary level Standards of Learning (SOL) test in Virginia. . .Students are taught how to estimate relatively simple

One of my favorite stories regarding an elementary level Standards of Learning (SOL) test in Virginia. . .Students are taught how to estimate relatively simple sums, difference, products and quotients in their heads. Students are required to select the "correct" estimate. One of the questions accidentally (I guess) included the actual answer among the choices. My son selected the actual answer rather than the "correct" estimate and it was marked wrong. OK, technically he didn't follow directions. . .the question asked for the estimate. But. . .really. . .you penalize a kid for calculating the correct answer and selecting that over the correct estimate??

Zancarius 13y ago
First, I should apologize for relating a personal anecdote, because it doesn't have anything to do with Common Core. It does provide something of a benchmark for the state of education 25-ish years ago, and it's troubling to me that we're continuing a downward spiral. Your story made me think immediately of this. When I was in 2nd grade sometime toward the late 1980s, I was subjected to a science test with the following question: "Which of the following is the closest star to Earth?" The answers provided were "the sun," "the moon," "Venus," and "Mars." I selected "the sun." I was marked off, and the teacher had returned the test with "the moon" circled as the correct answer. I don't recall being bothered so much by having marks taken off for providing an answer I knew with certainty was the truth. Following receipt of the test, I distinctly recall my mum heading off to the school with me the following day to dispute this "fact." The teacher in question and the school's principal both provided the bothersome answer "Well, it's marked as 'the moon' in the answer sheet, so that's what we have to go by." While I don't recall what became of that particular test or my final grade, it stands out as one of my earliest negative experiences in public education. I can only imagine what these poor kids are feeling when faced with questions that make no reasonable sense. It upsets me to think what memories they might harbor in the years to come, because kids certainly do NOT forget. And to think that education has only gotten worse since. Troubling times ahead indeed!
- greenyoda 13y ago
  "Well, it's marked as 'the moon' in the answer sheet, so that's what we have to go by." Or, in other words: "We were just following orders. We are not allowed to think for ourselves." It's tragic that these are the attitudes of the people entrusted to educate children.
  - Natsu 13y ago
    > It's tragic that these are the attitudes of the people entrusted to educate children. One person != everyone. Most of my teachers were good ones, willing to show me things other people considered "too advanced" for kids like me. Such people were the reason I could do things like purchase ethyl acetate as a child. Yes, that gives off poisonous fumes. It's used in entomology and was recommended by the books I was following.
    - Zancarius 13y ago
      > One person != everyone. While true, and certainly many of the teachers I had when I was young were quite good, some memories are punctuated by the inane.

Zancarius 13y ago

First, I should apologize for relating a personal anecdote, because it doesn't have anything to do with Common Core. It does provide something of a benchmark for the state of education 25-ish years ago, and it's troubling to me that we're continuing a downward spiral. Your story made me think immediately of this. When I was in 2nd grade sometime toward the late 1980s, I was subjected to a science test with the following question: "Which of the following is the closest star to Earth?" The answers provided were "the sun," "the moon," "Venus," and "Mars." I selected "the sun." I was marked off, and the teacher had returned the test with "the moon" circled as the correct answer. I don't recall being bothered so much by having marks taken off for providing an answer I knew with certainty was the truth. Following receipt of the test, I distinctly recall my mum heading off to the school with me the following day to dispute this "fact." The teacher in question and the school's principal both provided the bothersome answer "Well, it's marked as 'the moon' in the answer sheet, so that's what we have to go by." While I don't recall what became of that particular test or my final grade, it stands out as one of my earliest negative experiences in public education. I can only imagine what these poor kids are feeling when faced with questions that make no reasonable sense. It upsets me to think what memories they might harbor in the years to come, because kids certainly do NOT forget. And to think that education has only gotten worse since. Troubling times ahead indeed!

greenyoda 13y ago
"Well, it's marked as 'the moon' in the answer sheet, so that's what we have to go by." Or, in other words: "We were just following orders. We are not allowed to think for ourselves." It's tragic that these are the attitudes of the people entrusted to educate children.
- Natsu 13y ago
  > It's tragic that these are the attitudes of the people entrusted to educate children. One person != everyone. Most of my teachers were good ones, willing to show me things other people considered "too advanced" for kids like me. Such people were the reason I could do things like purchase ethyl acetate as a child. Yes, that gives off poisonous fumes. It's used in entomology and was recommended by the books I was following.
  - Zancarius 13y ago
    > One person != everyone. While true, and certainly many of the teachers I had when I was young were quite good, some memories are punctuated by the inane.