Aloha Kate
Bret Taylor wrote:
> I just read with great interest Vern Kays e-mail on the dangers of
> standardization and "teaching the test." I agree in principle with much of
> this message.
>
> But, I think we as teachers need to accept our fair share of the blame for
> declining standards.
>
> Students are being passed along without learning anything. I could go into
> a great diatribe, but I'll try to refrain. Just some anecdotal evidence to
> support my position:
>
> Student A has made 30's on three straight tests. He asks me if he can do a
> bulliten board to bring his grade up to a C.
>
> Student B says, "I'm failing. What are you going to do to get me a passing
> grade?"
>
> Student C makes a B in every year of High School math, including
> trigonometry. This student plaecs into developmental mathematics in college.
>
> Student D tells me, "I don't have to know the quadratic formula. I have a
> program on my calculator that gives me the answer." When I point out, among
> other things, that the program gives wrong answers, the student replies, "It
> can't. If my calculator says it, it must be right."
>
> Student E takes AP calculus in High School. He makes a 1 on the AP exam.
> He, by an articulation agreement between our community college and the local
> school district, places directly into my calculus class. He makes a 12 and
> a 7 on the first two exams. He withdraws. I do a little research. He was
> in an AP calculus class with 6 students. The grades they made on the AP
> exam were five 1's and one 2. All six students had a final average of 95 or
> higher in the course.
>
> I could go on and on. But, until we as teachers stand up and say, "A
> transcript is almost sacred to a teacher. The grade on that transcript
> means something. I will not put a grade on a transcript that I do not
> think, in my professional opinion, most accurately reflects your knowledge
> of the course."
>
> One last comment: Lest anyone think I'm pointing the finger at high school
> teachers alone, I'm not. I'm sick and tired of teachers telling me how ill
> prepared they are when they come into the class. And how poor their study
> habits are. How how little effort they put forth. (And how vividly they
> state their opinion of the students' intelligence.) But, when the end of
> the semester comes, these very same students make A's and B's. When I ask
> the teacher to explain, the answer is usually something like, "Well, if I
> held them to a reasonable standard they'd all fail."
>
> Folks, where there is no possibility of failure, there is no chance of success.
>
> I'll climb back down off my soap box now. Thanks for letting me vent. :-)
>
> Bret Taylor "It matters not the subject taught,
> Lake-Sumter Community College nor all the books on all the shelves.
> Leesburg, FL What matters more, yes most of all,
> John 3:3^3+3 is what the teachers are themselves."
> John Wooden
>
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