Comments | papi: Esotericism

papi

Esotericism

Mar 05, 2009 23:28

I know, I know, it's been forever... I just had to post this ( Read more... )

Comments 9

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Wait... so you can't fail? papi March 6 2009, 04:36:02 UTC

I feel for our teachers. It's like their career is being relegated to nothing more than glorified babysitters.

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Re: Wait... so you can't fail? papi March 6 2009, 04:59:56 UTC

Yeah, I was listening to Amy talk about the same thing (calculators being mandatory) that was the subject of a meeting today... she sounded so frustrated. The dumber we let our kids get, we're not going to advance anywhere.

I plan on teaching our kids to be so good at arithmetic that using a calculator will only slow them down.

Thread 6

lovelylind March 6 2009, 05:40:04 UTC

That is ridiculous... I'm trying to remember the passing rate in TX. I believe it was in the 60s, and I thought that was quite low.

papi March 6 2009, 05:47:34 UTC

I blame NCLB for this too. Nothing's more important than passing rates and Adequate Yearly Progress anymore.

dyvinesweetness March 6 2009, 16:28:08 UTC

Wow. That is ridiculous. Are they just against any ideas that would actually teach the kids? Do they think the kids cannot be taught? How do they excuse these actions?

papi March 6 2009, 19:44:01 UTC

In the city, the expectations of the kids are EXTREMELY low... so the system is geared to meet the already low expectations that they have. Problem is, even as they aim low, they still have a majority of students who don't even rise to THOSE expectations.

So every so often, the city lowers the passing grade on the MSA so that (in theory) more kids can pass and the schools look better as far as NCLB is concerned.

So the objective is not to teach the kids so that they can learn... it's to teach the kids so that they can pass a statewide test. Don't be surprised if the test becomes extra-credit for the kids in a couple of years.

lovelylind March 6 2009, 21:16:13 UTC

The sad part about it is that low expectations have never been proven to breed academic success. Never. And I'm sure that the school administrators are very well aware of that.

papi March 7 2009, 00:55:05 UTC

The ones IN the schools, of course.

You know that all these low expectations often don't start in the schools, but rather in the main office downtown.