tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6534665086749553287.post8124233290094517638..comments2024-03-28T19:47:39.985-04:00Comments on CURMUDGUCATION: Journeys and DestinationsPeter Greenehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16511193640285760299noreply@blogger.comBlogger5125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6534665086749553287.post-51570584786808649052014-11-02T17:22:32.010-05:002014-11-02T17:22:32.010-05:00Another *wonderful* post. How ridiculous for K-12 ...Another *wonderful* post. How ridiculous for K-12 schools, of all places, to be forced to demonize error. If kids never make mistakes, they're not learning – most importantly, they're not learning how to cope when things don't come out right. And, as you've said here and elsewhere, standardized tests don't even tell us anything anyway.<br />Reformsters do not seem to grasp that tests are not examinations. An exam is a performance, a kind of audition, intended to see if a candidate can *join* a certain group (lawyer, actor, dancer, plumber, academic, whatever). I'm a big fan of exams, actually. But they don't serve students or teachers so much as they serve the professional integrity of whatever walk of life to which they offer an entrance visa. <br />Bubble tests, on the other hand, can sometimes have some rough and ready value for teachers. A carefully-crafted test can sometimes help a teacher guess what's going on inside a student's mind. However, reformsters, please note this enormous, throbbing, multi-colored caveat: it is actually IMPOSSIBLE to know what is going on in another person's mind. If this concept remains difficult to grasp, try reviewing the entire history of empirical philosophy, and the works of Shakespeare. <br />Anyway, the test no longer serves to see whether a student is ready for an examination: the test has *become* the examination. Students are being trained in performance styles that bear no resemblance at all, ever, in any way, to anything they will ever need to muster ever again. <br /><br /><br /><br />Madeleinehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16055922376249533020noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6534665086749553287.post-76775333975137195132014-11-01T21:51:12.420-04:002014-11-01T21:51:12.420-04:00EXCELLENTEXCELLENTAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6534665086749553287.post-78710592846984931962014-11-01T20:00:03.048-04:002014-11-01T20:00:03.048-04:00My daughter and I once toured a Montessori school....My daughter and I once toured a Montessori school. Their whole philosophy seems to be to make the kids feel "big", as you say in your "Grit" post. That and letting the students discover things for themselves and develop at their own pace. It seems to me that's the way schools should be, especially elementary school. Rebecca deCocahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13168718846105012814noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6534665086749553287.post-77948842595636652272014-11-01T19:50:08.566-04:002014-11-01T19:50:08.566-04:00Once again you nailed it. Profound truth. Keep pre...Once again you nailed it. Profound truth. Keep preaching it !Monicahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/18105074224970128175noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6534665086749553287.post-69236142544339319482014-11-01T11:36:53.873-04:002014-11-01T11:36:53.873-04:00I agree with your sentiments entirely. The increas...I agree with your sentiments entirely. The increasingly violent gravitational forces in our US educational system are pulling our children face down. One would think it would be self-evident: that static, rigid answers can never replace the joy of wonder-ful exploration. My fave passage: "Those stops, those achievements, those checkpoints are great and important and lord knows we don't want to drive around aimlessly and never arrive anywhere, but life is mostly the journey."Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06258322426738212113noreply@blogger.com