For The EDiots Of The World

What an amazing article in today's New York Times. Susan Engel, of Williams College basically, at least in my opinion, smacked down the whole aura behind testing students in elementary school. I know right now that Bloomy, Klein, Tilson, Carroll, and all the EDiots are just in a daze, readying a response to this professor, thinking they know more.

Engel says that if we want to make sure children can learn we need to, "overhaul the curriculum itself." That testing is, "is completely at odds with what scientists understand about how children develop during the elementary school years and has led to a curriculum that is strangling children and teachers alike."

Think about this. An adult speaking here. Someone with no horse in the race. The curriculum we have is not geared to students learning. It is geared towards students learning how to memorize and perform like trained animals just to take a test so a school district can feel bigger about itself. She says, "what children need to do in elementary school is not to cram for high school or college, but to develop ways of thinking and behaving that will lead to valuable knowledge and skills later on."

A few things in the article really stood out for me.

These kids in the inner city are not having complex conversations at home. We should as parents from the day they are born start their critical thinking skills. And this is done through language. Talking to our children, not at them. They do not get this, nor the vocabulary at home. No matter how many Head Starts there are they still come to school short changed. When a child asks "why is the sky blue?" and the answer is, "how the f**k do I know?" a child eventually learns not to ask questions anymore and loses a component, a critical component in how to think and learn for themselves.

But this is not being done with what is happening in the schools, in NYC today. The higher order thinking skills are not being developed. How can they be developed when all it is is test, test, test. Memorize, memorize, memorize. I remember in elementary school myself teachers telling us how in England and Japan the students have a lack of independent thought because of all the rigorous tests the students take.

She also is a big advocate for play. Yes, play. "During the school day, there should be extended time for play. Research has shown unequivocally that children learn best when they are interested in the material or activity they are learning. Play — from building contraptions to enacting stories to inventing games — can allow children to satisfy their curiosity about the things that interest them in their own way." But the charter folks, and the EDiots don't want that.

Sure, let's have school until 5 PM, and then home for hours of homework. Come in on Saturdays. Three weeks of summer vacation. All this is old-fashioned predicated on when the country was full of farmers. Bullocks I say.

This is when kids learn the best, and put what they learn into use. During play. Just as an aside. I truly believe the lack of opportunity for team sports, intra-mural, inter-scholastic, rec leagues, etc... really hurts students in the inner city. OK, no more digressing. Here is another really neat thing she said, "during the school day, there should be extended time for play. Research has shown unequivocally that children learn best when they are interested in the material or activity they are learning. Play — from building contraptions to enacting stories to inventing games — can allow children to satisfy their curiosity about the things that interest them in their own way."

Seems to make sense. And I don't think she means the 25 minutes of recess. But why can't we implement what she is advocating? Because it is not something concrete. You can't hold her theories in your hands and see that you have something. Tests are concrete. Testing gives the appearance of accomplishing something, anything. Mostly it accomplishes only hurting students.