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> The dentist couldn't understand why I would do this. I told him it was my legal right, and a decision that my husband and I had thought through carefully... >
by yoha 13y ago
> The dentist couldn't understand why I would do this. I told him it was my legal right, and a decision that my husband and I had thought through carefully...
> Yeah, yeah. Silly comparison.
Yup, would have been better off without it.
> testing is the backbone of most school systems at present.
I think that's exactly where the problem is: kids are not supposed to help schools get funds, schools are supposed to train kids for real life.
The purpose of SATs is deeply questioned. They try to give a single number to evaluate someone.
There is a common fallacy on the matter. Say you want to evaluate programmers. You find out that your best programmers write code than the others, so you decide to track how much code each one has added to the source. You know what happens next: your code base just grew tenfold. That's because when you use a measurement, you are evaluating this measurement and nothing else.
Getting back to SATs, it means that you are evaluating the skills of kids at taking standardized tests, and I don't think this is a very useful skill as an adult.
> The author of this article does make the case that the school didn't argue very convincingly in favor of the tests, but neither did she make any form of convincing argument against the tests beyond stress.
Good, then it does not matter if they are taken or not; it is therefore very reasonable to avoid an unnecessary burden.
> Arguably, learning that early and thorough preparation reduces stress is a tremendously important lesson for kids, even beyond what they're actually studying! Testing also teaches children to remain calm under pressure, and that random chance ("Oh, I won't study that. What are the odds it will be a question?") is a cruel mistress.
I find it quite depressing to see that schools are now supposed to train you to take a test. How is that any relevant? What was the original purpose of school again? This is the same fallacy as I above: tests are made to check the training pupils where given, not the other way around.
> Yes, it is your legal right to opt your children out of both taking tests and flossing. Take a stand! Hooray for your legal rights!
How is that an argument?
- yummyfajitas 13y agoYou find out that your best programmers write code than the others, so you decide to track how much code each one has added to the source. I linked to real tests elsewhere in the thread. You find that the best students can compute the area of a rectangle given a ruler and simplify (x^3y^2)(x^4y). You start testing that, and you know what happens next: all your students can compute area given a ruler and simplify algebraic equations. Wait, isn't that a good thing?
- sanderjd 13y agoNot if there are hundreds of such things that are treated as trivia to be memorized rather than glimpses of underlying concepts to be understood. Then the trivia becomes the point rather than the understanding, similarly to the parent's example of lines of code becoming the point rather than a good program. A lot of teachers feel like they don't have time to teach concepts because they have to spend all of their time teaching the answers to specific questions on the test.
- yummyfajitas 13y agoI linked to 3 specific tests elsewhere in this thread. What collection of trivia would you force students to memorize to increase their score on those tests? (Substitute the Colorado test under discussion if you can find it.) So far not a single person has actually told me how to "teach to the test" for the real NY or CA test. Strange how everyone knows it will happen, but no one actually knows how to do it.
- sanderjd 13y agoSorry that I don't want to go read the tests you linked to, but I'll just speak to the two things you mentioned up-thread. Without context, finding the area of a rectangle, and simplifying an algebraic expression are useless trivia. You teach to the test by teaching how to do those things, while ignoring why you would want to.
- yummyfajitas 13y agoSorry I don't want to critically think about things, but I'll just repeat some political talking points that I've rote memorized.
- sanderjd 13y agoI replied directly to examples you posted with thoughts of my own that are experiential and not in any way political, and your replied in very bad faith. Makes me bummed I bothered engaging you at all when you don't seem to be interested in talking.