Re: Campaign Against Public Schools

Louise Yarnall (lyarnall who-is-at ucla.edu)
Mon, 17 May 1999 05:29:13 +0700

I have begun talking with parents and teachers about the testing mania. I
think this is how the pendulum will begin to swing back. I was at my older
son's magnet school orientation this morning, and several parents started
discussing the harrowing experience of the Stanford 9's. I was surprised to
see my first-grader being tested on fractions. They were surprised to see
their fourth-graders tested on calculating the volume of spherical solids.

I'm all for math reform that brings more abstract concepts and thinking into
the hands of younger students, but the testing process appears to have
become a way of forcing teachers to teach certain things "to the test" just
so they look good. And my sense is that we're again sacrificing breadth for
depth.

I think the AP testing mania at the other end of the scale has the same
whiff of turning learning into a Jeopardy game of rote memorization and test
cramming. Sometimes being slow is a good thing in learning.

Louise

P.S. Ken, thanks for the newspaper cites. You're right. You haven't been
given a fair shake by Colvin in the Times. Has he ever talked to you?

----------
>From: Ken Goodman <kgoodman who-is-at u.arizona.edu>
>To: xmca who-is-at weber.ucsd.edu
>Subject: Re: Campaign Against Public Schools
>Date: Sun, May 16, 1999, 6:15 AM
>

>Apropos of Nate's discourse: who is this left that you think has
>proposals for educational reform and where are they in response to the
>overwhelming power of the right? Where is there a left agenda outside
>of those of us who are in the trenches fighting to save education?
>Ken
>--
>Kenneth S. Goodman, Professor, Language, Reading & Culture
>504 College of Education, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ
> fax 520 7456895 phone 520 6217868
>
>These are mean times- and in the mean time
>We need to Learn to Live Under Water
>