Well, Here's Something That Will Never Fly

[dr_pretentious]

Check out this astonishing article in the New York Times. Apparently our nation's illustrious Secretary of Education knows just what American higher education needs: federally mandated standardized testing for undergraduate degrees. Because, you know, No Child Left Behind has been such a rousing success in our nation's primary and secondary schools.

This quotation is especially mind-blowing:
“Too many Americans just aren’t getting the education that they need,” the report said. “There are disturbing signs that many students who do earn degrees have not actually mastered the reading, writing and thinking skills we expect of college graduates.”

And increasing the emphasis on standardized testing is so conducive to developing sophisticated writing and critical thinking skills, right? Nothing like filling in dots with a number two pencil to reveal a capacity for independent thought. And turning colleges into cram schools is sure to prepare our college graduates to compete in a global labor market.

Thank you, Secretary Spellings. Why didn't I think of that?

Comments

[vgnwtch.livejournal.com]

Or supporting engaged and engaging teachers and drastically cutting class sizes throughout the education system, thereby fostering a culture of genuine learning instead of crowd control? That'd be a start.

Mind you, my Dad was complaining about graduates not being able to spell properly or write decent reports in the mid-80s, and used to spot-test the typing pool (back in the days when they had one in mid-large sized police stations) by throwing in words like vicissitudes, elucidation, and extrapolation. He left school at 15 and felt that "everyone should be able to use a bloody dictionary, for pity's sake!"