[lbo-talk] Poor teaching for poor children...

[Wojtek S]

Joanna quoted: "Standardized exams serve mostly to make dreadful forms
of teaching appear successful.  As long as they remain our primary way
of evaluating, we may never see real school reform -- only an
intensification of traditional practices, with the very worst reserved
for the disadvantaged."

[WS:]  The piece is great but it somewhat misses the mark about
standardized testing.  Standardized testing is not about *evaluating*
education - it *is* education, or rather a mental conditioning routine
that rewards making the "right" choice from a narrowly defined set of
provided options and punishes independent thinking.  In other words,
classroom instruction has value only if it prepares students for the
primary educational activity - standardized testing.  If it does not,
it is a distraction at best, and even counterproductive if it
encourages thinking.

Wojtek