Filed under: Education, Elementary Education, High School, NCLB, Politics, Public School, Standardized Testing, Students, Teachers, k-12
How horrible a mother would I be if I sat my kids down, looked them in their sweet, trusting eyes, and told them that only the most ass-kicking one of them was going to get funding for food, shelter and clothing, and the loser was going to be on their own? I would be deemed an unfit parent because there is just no way to make it acceptable to have people compete for what are supposed to be basic rights.
I’m a big dumb sucker, and have apparently been suffering under the delusion that, much like food, shelter and clothing for offspring, education was one of the most basic rights an American citizen could expect. Aaah, now I hear it, the big giant buzzer going off in my ear, rudely letting me know that I was mistaken. Crap.
Only the winners get the funding. And how will the “winners” be decided? By data. And since there seems to be only one way to collect and analyze that much data (there are a lot of schools in this country), I’m assuming we’re back to the a**loads-of-standardized-testing portion of education reform. Woohoo! I was just missing that GW guy so much, and now it feels like we’ve got him back. I’m so relieved.
The less-cranky optimist (and usually fervent supporter of Obama) in me is hoping for some really excellent fine print that will prove my fears about this education reform plan wrong. Seriously, someone tell me I’m wrong and this plan isn’t evil. Maybe competition will bring out the best in everyone, and every school will get the money it needs.
President Obama is saying that the testing will be different this time, that it will be better. Let’s hope so. I get it that fixing the education system is probably very close to being insurmountable, and I get it that there isn’t enough cash available to hand out to every school that needs funding. But really with the competition and the data? The American Way bites.
Further Reading:
Obama Pressures States to Embrace Schools Overhaul
Obama’s $4 Billion is Massive Incentive for School Reform
Obama Pushes for Education Reform with $4.35 Billion in Competitive Grants
Posted by Alexa Harrington
The testing is a joke. I’ve seen it from a couple different angles. I do believe in competition and I hope this does make things better, but as for the testing itself here’s what happens: 1. close to testing time, the teachers suddenly start cramming the material they haven’t yet covered (that supposedly the students should already know) so that they can get higher scores on the tests. Everything else gets thrown aside. 2. parents and students don’t really realize that the testing has very little to do with their child and more about how the school/district looks. 3. I’ve actually scored the (subjective) parts of the test (written answers) and it is pretty much an assembly-line situation where you should be getting through so many tests during a certain amount of time. Low scores are not preferred and if at all possible you give points for the slightest effort. Perfect scores are incredibly rare as well. Some people scoring the tests are highly qualified and others I had to wonder about….but I suppose that is with any job. One of the things I really dislike about testing time is that there is so much pressure on the kids who don’t realize how little it actually means to their own success and how much suddenly switching gears and throwing new information at them takes away from the quality of education they deserve.
Comment by Mrs M 07.29.09 @ 8:04 amMrs.M–
You’re totally wrecking the pathetic little bubble of optimism I’ve so carefully placed around myself! Damn it, woman, now I have to face up to the fact that the public education system is FUBAR, and not even the seemingly-good guys know how to come up with a decent way to fix it. Is it the nature of the politician animal that makes them all, no matter how non-evil they appear at the outset, incapable of being true and fair and good and right? How hard is it to just decide to make schools work well? I hate being a grown-up and having to realize crappy life-truths like: The lesser of two evils is still a pain in the ass.
Thank you for the reality check, though. I do appreciate an insider’s view of the testing situation. It sounds as dire as I was hoping it wasn’t. Take care,
Alexa
Comment by Alexa 07.29.09 @ 5:37 pm