I asked Daughter 1 if she and her class had been tracking Hurricane Irene as it made its way to ravage our east coast. She's in fifth grade and studying weather is a major fifth grade curriculum point. Eventually, if she's lucky, she'll get chosen to be the school meteorologist; and, if she's luckier, she'll get to announce on the school PA system that the weather today is expected to be "rainy" instead of "sunny".
"We haven't talked about Irene; who is she?" she asked.
"Irene is a hurricane." I explained.
"Ohemgee, Momma! Is she coming here?" she squealed her voice full of anxiety at thoughts of a hurricane making it all the way to the middle of our country.
"No, honey, it’s not coming to us, but it is expected to hit the entire east coast of our country." I further explained.
"Well," Daughter 1 said, "It's probably not on our test and that's why we aren't watching it."
True dat, baby girl.
How pitiful is it that in our data-crazy education system even our 10- and 11-year-olds are in-tune enough to know that if it ain't on the test, it ain't worth learning! It would appear that testing has taken away all of our teachable moments.
How pitiful is it that in our data-crazy education system even our 10- and 11-year-olds are in-tune enough to know that if it ain't on the test, it ain't worth learning! It would appear that testing has taken away all of our teachable moments.
And, ashamedly, our students are grossly aware of this fact.
The Dad and I remember exactly where we were in January 1986 when the space shuttle Challenger exploded. This was clearly before the infusion of technology into our lives. Even in The Dad's very small school, the science teacher was able to secure a television with a cable connection and their afternoon was spent, not memorizing the periodic table, but watching the commentators report on the varying theories as to exactly what happened. Despite this day away from the written curriculum, The Dad went on to graduate high school and earn his bachelors and masters degrees. And, while he did take tests and do very well on said tests, they did not determine a time line for the curriculum nor did they determine a school’s level of success.
It seems that me that in an effort to quantify the brain of a child, the powers that be have not just left No Child Behind; they’ve left them all behind.
I’m not suggesting that we abandon all measures of accountability as far as schools are concerned. As a public school educator who is married to a public school educator, I believe that we are indeed in an age of accountability. Now more than ever before, schools need to make their patrons aware of the good things they are teaching and wonderful things that are happening inside their doors. And there are wonderful things happening.
However, when our students begin to feel the pressure of a test so much that they are willing to forgo those teachable moments for themselves, our system of accountability that non-educators have established for our education system has quantified itself – and it’s failing.
