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On education...
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grammar_mavens:
Why aren't educators more vigilant about the quality of the education they dish out? Personally, I think it lies with the increasing politicization of education, particularly with the emphasis on equality of results as opposed to an educated citizenry.
My mother taught in the New York City school system for many years. Each year, it seemed, the curriculum would be made easier (I helped her grade papers), and pressure was placed on teachers to make sure students passed. Failing a student was more often than not a casus belli, leading to unpleasant meetings with parents and administrators.
Dumbing down the curriculum is a quick and easy way to achieve an "equal" result. If spelling and grammar no longer matter, then they can't be used to distinguish "better" students from "poorer" ones.
Gutting other requirements, such as language classes, helps streamline the process. Political pressure is particularly effective here. I've heard parents proclaim, at a school board meeting, that learning a foreign language was not essential to a good education. (I know you'll find this hard to believe, but not one board member rose to argue that contention or to advance an argument for language education.)
[Note added postscriptum: I have heard similar arguments regarding music classes, shop, and physical education. In each case, it seemed the parents were really arguing as follows: "My kid isn't any good at this, so it ought not be a required part of the curriculum."]
What to do about the situation? That's tough to say. Any initiative that smells of parents having a real say in education (i.e., having control of how the money is spent) is roundly condemned as right-wing fanaticism. But in the final analysis, nothing will change until individuals do have that power.
Cheers...
grammar_mavens:Why aren't educators more vigilant about the quality of the education they dish out? Personally, I think it lies with the increasing politicization of education, particularly with the emphasis on equality of results as opposed to an educated citizenry.
My mother taught in the New York City school system for many years. Each year, it seemed, the curriculum would be made easier (I helped her grade papers), and pressure was placed on teachers to make sure students passed. Failing a student was more often than not a casus belli, leading to unpleasant meetings with parents and administrators.
Dumbing down the curriculum is a quick and easy way to achieve an "equal" result. If spelling and grammar no longer matter, then they can't be used to distinguish "better" students from "poorer" ones.
Gutting other requirements, such as language classes, helps streamline the process. Political pressure is particularly effective here. I've heard parents proclaim, at a school board meeting, that learning a foreign language was not essential to a good education. (I know you'll find this hard to believe, but not one board member rose to argue that contention or to advance an argument for language education.)
[Note added postscriptum: I have heard similar arguments regarding music classes, shop, and physical education. In each case, it seemed the parents were really arguing as follows: "My kid isn't any good at this, so it ought not be a required part of the curriculum."]
What to do about the situation? That's tough to say. Any initiative that smells of parents having a real say in education (i.e., having control of how the money is spent) is roundly condemned as right-wing fanaticism. But in the final analysis, nothing will change until individuals do have that power.
Cheers...
if such tests were inherently designed to favor "whites,"
Ah yes, the famous white cultural bias of standardized tests which appears, somehow, to favor Asians.
Given that Asians do better on standardized tests than whites who do better than blacks what other explanation can their be than a conspiracy (no doubt vast and rightwing).
The possibility that it is related to the fact that Asian students watch less TV and spend more time doing homework than whites who watch less TV and spend more time doing homework than blacks is excluded and the mention of these facts forbidden.