Re: social promotion, several unrelated comments

Ken Goodman (kgoodman who-is-at u.arizona.edu)
Tue, 28 Sep 1999 08:19:17 -0700

There is no such agreement among informed educators- or the public about
standards and tests as vehicles of reform. Don Graves quotes an
anonymous Danish primary teacher as saying "I'd be a poor teacher if I
needed a test to tell me how well my students are doing." As for
standards, i published a commentary in Education Week a few years ago
under the title Standards, Not! I made a number of points but one main
one is that standards standardize and that the goals of education do not
include producing standardized graduates.

By the way, I wear non-standard suits made to my measure since I don't
have the standard body ready-made suits on the rack are designed for and
I am uncomfortable with the notion of changing my body to fit the suits.

Ken Goodman