Obama says too much testing makes education boring

– President Barack Obama said Monday that students should take fewer standardized tests and school performance should be measured in other ways than just exam results. Too much testing makes education boring for kids, he said.

"Too often what we have been doing is using these tests to punish students or to, in some cases, punish schools," the president told students and parents at a town hall hosted by the Univision Spanish-language television network at Bell Multicultural High School in Washington, D.C.

I couldnt agree more. Some kids just do not do well on tests , even though they know the material. Some are just wired differently.
In my ISD, they just voted to do away with spring break because of the new standardized testing laws Texas has implemented. They are instead going to be preparing for the tests.
At what point does school become about just a test, instead of true learning?
news.yahoo.com...;_ylt=ArWbyyrwXa0vzWGI3LmP2R2s0NUE;_ylu=X3o'___'Nta3Fqc3M4BGFzc2V0A2FwLzIwMTEwMzI4L3 VzX29iYW1hX2VkdWNhdGlvbgRjY29kZQNtb3N0cG9wdWxhcgRjcG9zAzQEcG9zAzEEcHQDaG9tZV9jb2tlBHNlYwN5bl9oZWFkbGluZV9saXN0BHNsawNvYmFtYXNheXN0b28-

reply to post by toolstarr


BRILLIANT ! Let's dumb down society even more.

Originally posted by gatewaywithin
reply to post by toolstarr

 

BRILLIANT ! Let's dumb down society even more.

Nothing he says has any value, all he's saying is what will please people, just because he is the president, doesn't mean his opinion is valid in all arenas, you wouldn't trust his advice on nuclear engineering, why would you trust it on general education?

Let bygones determine what's best for bygones. (to ruin further a cliche'd idiom)

reply to post by gatewaywithin


Not so much. I graduated high school two years ago, and I can honestly say standardized testing was a complete waste of time. I'm from Pennsylvania, where our standardized test is the PSSA. The science PSSA tests earth and space science, environmental science, some biology, and I believe agriculture. Advanced Placement was only offered for Biology, Chemistry, and Physics, so advanced students only learned those subjects. To score higher on the PSSA, we literally had to spend a few classes memorizing facts about geology, space, and environmental science because we didn't waste our time taking those classes (not that they aren't important, they just aren't really advanced courses until college).

It was the worst day of the week in English when we had to stop discussing The Great Gatsby, 1984, To Kill a Mockingbird, etc. to do our PSSA practice packets. It helped us decide which of the multiple choice answers was the sentence fragment, or which was had an incorrect semicolon! What a waste. I believe I learned that in 5th grade.

I don't feel like going on a NCLB rant, but if anything, standardized testing is dumbing students down.

I strongly disagree. I learn quite a lot when I have to study for tests. It also lets me know how I'm doing. But this is college; high school was a different story haha...

Obama.

reply to post by toolstarr


He's already trying to brainwash a new generation of Progressives. Dumbing them down and playing to their childish wants at the same time. This really is a sick, sick man. Soon all these kids will be qualified for is factory jobs and service positions, serving children like his who are going to good schools.

Originally posted by PoorFool
I strongly disagree. I learn quite a lot when I have to study for tests. It also lets me know how I'm doing. But this is college; high school was a different story haha...

Obama.

edit on 28-3-2011 by PoorFool because: (no reason given)

He is talking about standardized tests, not tests in general...

reply to post by Blaine91555


He's talking about No Child Left Behind. I thought most Republicans hate No Child Left Behind? But because its Obama disagreeing with NCLB its suddenly a liberal agenda to do away with the program?

reply to post by cg9113


I'm neither a Democrat nor a Republican. There really is no difference anymore. I do know that if you don't make sure our children have a good education, it is abuse. If the school Obama's girls go to suggested this, I'm positive he would move them to another school. Obama is a two Class Progressive and a consummate Narcissist. He wants a generation of dumbed down easy to control people.

Got to go, Obama's on talking about Libya.

Originally posted by cg9113

Originally posted by PoorFool
I strongly disagree. I learn quite a lot when I have to study for tests. It also lets me know how I'm doing. But this is college; high school was a different story haha...

Obama.

edit on 28-3-2011 by PoorFool because: (no reason given)

He is talking about standardized tests, not tests in general...

Oh, what exactly are standardized tests? Like the state tests and SAT's etc? If so, I agree. In high school we would go through the whole year preparing for the final state test and never actually learned anything.

reply to post by toolstarr


hm i found something i agree with him on!
BINGO!

I hear 75 percent of lawyers of which Obama is one, are illiterate.
IF Less Nessman is good
then of course
less testing would be gooder
he is just weeding out the compition

For lawyers who can read, you pay extra

Meanwhile, the prosecutors have gleefully convicted themselves of illiteracy, though "convict" may be the wrong word.
Eric Sussman, a prominent U.S. prosecutor, somehow managed to get through university without ever encountering the word "calumnies." What are they teaching in school?, George Jonas wants to know.

Illiteracy appears to be a matter of pride for lawyers in the Midwest.

www.canadianjusticereviewboard.ca...

It's a shame when most of the school year the teachers are pushing standardized tests instead of true knowledge. It seems the teachers would know whats best for the kids as far as learning, insteadd of the state. How would y'all feel if Spring Break was gone to ensure passing a state issued test ? Think outside the box. I would almost never agree with obama, but I think you will find that private schools that are not required to do standardized tests, have kids that are more rounded and overall more knowledgable about world.

reply to post by Blaine91555


I knew you would say you were neither party. I contemplated editing the "Republicans" to "independents who hate Obama and 'progressives' but still say they disapprove of conservatives to seem balanced" but decided to see what'd you'd reply.

So you approve of government-controlled testing? The government 'standardizes' the tests in question. They also send schools the practice study packets that students take time out of class to complete. Based on the tests the state determines which schools receive government funds. Students who do poorly on the standardized reading portion are often taken out of general lit and placed in a 'standardized' lit, where they do nothing but memorize vocab words, pick out comma splices, etc. If they were in general lit, they would be focusing on classic literature and the like. Which sounds more 'dumbed-down'?

Originally posted by PoorFool

Originally posted by PoorFool



He is talking about standardized tests, not tests in general...

Oh, what exactly are standardized tests? Like the state tests and SAT's etc? If so, I agree. In high school we would go through the whole year preparing for the final state test and never actually learned anything.

edit on 28-3-2011 by PoorFool because: (no reason given)

Yeah, standardized tests are the state tests.

Sir Ken Robinson: Do Schools Kill Creativity
From a Ted Talk about 4 years ago.
This talk was a huge success
the longer 20 min version
can be found here.

Sir Ken Robinson: Do schools kill creativity?
This link is the same as the video above,
it is just the full 20 min version.
notice the 2.2 million views.



This video, on the other hand, is more interesting. If that is possible.
This guy is a Marketing Type, who's only interest is money and success.
He starts the video by saying "I am not a conspiracy theorist. Most are groundless,
but in this case public education was a conspiracy. Between corporations and government."
And then he names names and describes our broken education system to a Tee.




David Grouchy

reply to post by gatewaywithin


Have you ever taken a standardized test? The majority of those I've taken, including the CSAP (Colorado's Standardized Ass Pull) and, to a slightly lesser extent, the ACT, do not encourage critical thinking. They encourage two things: memorizing facts with no regard for the actual content of those facts, and "test-taking" strategies, such as "how to guess when you've got no idea." Which sounds like it would be critical thinking, but just... isn't. Oh, god, how it isn't.

I think I'm having a CSAP flashback. DIE, DIE, CSAP, DIE!

Anyone that isn't aware of how damaging standardized testing is to ACTUAL education isn't paying too much attention.

I have many teachers in my family, and many people currently in school. Schools need to do well on their standardized testing, so what do they do? They waste TONS of time teaching ONLY what is on this test, just so their school will appear "better" on a piece of paper.

Education in America has been steadily declining, yet there are more and more standardized tests. I'm not going to say the tests themselves are causing 100% of the damage, but it's obvious they sure aren't helping out in the least.

We need to start giving kids a real education, not just a canned one size fits all "education in a box" like we have been doing for awhile.

Edited to say... I think it's hilarious that someone said ridding ourselves of standardized testing will dumb people down. That's stupid. Standardized testing IS what is dumbing kids down.

But... you know. Being partisan is more important that real issues. Because I want to hate someone, even if they are right about something (which in Obama's case, is a 1 in a million chance)

I posted a link to this thread in a somewhat connected thread of my own.

China 'to overtake US on science' in two years

I guess Obama doesnt care.

The problem is not the testing itself because without metrics to measure the relative success of the programs there isn’t much to go on.

The issue is that rather than like when I was a kid in the 70’s and testing was just something that one day happened with little or no preparation that we are teaching the test which in fact skews the metric and if anything inflates it.

So sorry to say if our kids are performing poorly on standardized tests they are actually woefully failing because, at least at my kid’s school, there are weeks spent in preparation for the testing to the exclusion of all other curriculum.

Tests are good they let us know where everyone stands in terms of retention for the students and in terms of hitting the teaching points for the schools and administrations.

However, because so much funding is hedged upon the outcome of the test the administrators are tempted to focus on the test rather than using it as a simple tool to adjust their programs.

Tests could be a boon to our society in many ways if we actually put effort into interpreting them for something other than which district gets more money. The kids could focus on their strengths and counselors could be honest with children who should perhaps seek a trade school rather than college.

Let’s face it not all people are cut out for an education at the college level – there are plenty of skilled trades in America that are in need of competent individuals to ply them.

There is somehow a stigma associated with working with one’s hands in America that forces kids to choose college to their own and society’s determent. Used to be that having a college degree, even at the bachelors level was a sort of vetting process though which middle and entry level management could be screened and therefore the pay level of graduates was commensurate with someone who was of professional level drive/skill.

Now HR people and businesses put no stock in a degree as an indicator of intellect and or drive and subsequently a degree is worth very little when it comes to employment.

Interestingly enough most of the new breed of self made wealthy men and women are entrepreneurs in the trades – plumbers, electricians etc. How hard is it to get someone to do that work for you now days? They can virtually pick and choose their contracts according to my family member who is one.

He is doing fantastically well on his HS diploma and trade certification. College degrees are a dime a dozen a skilled tradesmen is a diamond in the rough…