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by Mary Shafer
As families get ready for back-to-school, it’s worth taking a look at our most pointed analysis of just what it is we’re preparing our children for.
It’s difficult to pick up a newspaper or watch or listen to a newscast without seeing or hearing mention of the frustration of parents, teachers and students themselves with the concept and practice of “teaching to test.”
Yet this is exactly what drives content and delivery in nearly every traditional classroom in America. Thousands of students, with their parents’ consent and support, are bailing from this chasing-your-tail scenario. The numbers of opt-outs are large enough to skew the outcome numbers, so one must ask if these tests are even accurate enough to justify their use any longer.
The question becomes even more pointed when you consider that study after study shows that students who do well on standardized tests don’t necessarily perform any better in further schooling or even applications of the knowledge they supposedly learned.
In this original post, BANR founder Ted Wachtel gives his overview of the folly of school grading. It’s a good introduction to the foundational BANR belief that it’s long past time that we re-examine our slavish devotion to the traditional classroom.
We believe in the possibility of alternative learning systems, as part of the New Reality we’re helping to build. You can learn more about the specifics here.
