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]

I once failed a biology test for facetiousness; it was poorly written, so that the questions didn't actually mean what they were supposed to, and I was fool enough to point it out. The biology teacher was a lovely woman who told me that, "I know it's very tempting, but please don't do this again - you'll only hurt yourself, and it's not worth it."

[jeneralist.livejournal.com]

I've got a different perspective on the whole education thing than most -- the best teacher I ever had, the one that most engaged me and left me eager for our next class, the one that helped me through several "grade levels" of work in a single year by getting me interested in the material and cutting out the BS (and the one who taught me Danny Kaye songs!) -- was a home-school teacher from the town schools. (In the US, I'd say "public" -- but I know that public and private mean different things in the UK.)

And how did I get a one-on-one, home school teacher? I was too ill to go to the school building, so they sent me a teacher three days a week for about 1.5 - 2 hours at a time.

Can't recommend it to anyone else; I just thank the Gods it worked out the way it did.

[vgnwtch.livejournal.com]

I had a tutor from the county council because I was off school so long - actually, I got 2 in succession. Unfortunately, though they were really into the subjects I was into, which meant we got good discussions on English lit and history, they weren't up to speed on sciences and maths, especially not at GCSE exam level. This wasn't helped by various members of staff at the school refusing to provide their syllabi or homework (aside from the maths teacher, who came and gave me some lessons out of the goodness of her heart), so that the tutors were grasping at what they thought was most likely to be workable. Add to that my amazing collapsible immune system (much worse then than the period of time you've known me), and it was all a bit of a cluster-fuck.

I think one on one teaching has to be the best; perhaps on on five at the most. It's something I regret about the infertility thing; I'd been looking forward to helping a child learn, but I have nephews and neices, and no doubt there will be friends with kids.