I'm Bad And I Don't Care



I'm bad.  I don't follow directions, especially when I believe the directions are wrong.

I just finished writing this week's algebra exam.  I didn't use multiple choice questions in part I like I am supposed to.  I want to see how the problems are being solved.  If I can understand their thought process, I can help them find the way to the correct solutions.  Just looking at a column of a's b's, c's and d's might make marking easier but it doesn't help the learning process.

I know the regents is largely multiple choice, but regents problems aren't worth 5 points each.  The kids need partial credit and they need to see their mistakes and for that, we need more than an answer.  I've seen too many kids just guess at the right response.  Math should not be a guessing game.

I Must Be Missing Something

Every subject is assigned certain test days and we are not supposed to deviate from these days. The reason is simple, the kids should not be over burdened with too many tests to study for on the same day. They can't do a subject justice if they are studying for too many exams on the same day.

What I want to know is why it is okay to give kids an extended day of school, extra classes with extra homework and extra studying? Aren't these kids being burdened as well? Aren't these kids being deprived of much needed studying time?

Is there something wrong with the way I am seeing things? Am I missing something?

My Dad

My dad is a bright, successful man. However, my dad was never a good student. In fact, my dad hated school. He attended a vocational school for a while and then left to attend a neighborhood school. Academics was never his specialty. He had the ability but not the interest. In spite of this, he graduated high school, worked, got drafted, served in the army, came home, got married, attended and dropped out of college. Even older, education held no interest for him.

After the army, my dad got a job working for the Veteran's Association. He was not an accountant, but he ran the accounting department. He had many people working directly for him and was very successful. When he needed extra money to buy a car he took a part time job in Macy's. He sold children's shoes there for over 30 years and when he retired, he was earning $20 an hour plus commissions. For an uneducated guy, he did great. He supported a wife and two children and had built up a comfortable retirement fund.

So what brings this story up? NCLB!!!!! This law, along with all the testing would have been the ruination of my dad. He would not have put up with it and probably would never have graduated high school. By allowing him to go to a school where he could develop his own interests, he was able to succeed. Might he have done better had he been forced to learn some of these academic subjects? Maybe. Would he have been happy? Probably not. My guess is that he would have either dropped out or learned enough academics to do minimally well at all the jobs he has held.

My dad was a child of the 30's. Are the children of today all that different? Would we really be hurting them that much if instead of testing and teaching over their heads we taught them what they needed to succeed in life? Would it really hurt to say that it is okay if you can't solve an equation and that it is okay to go in for a career that does not require a college education?

Good Old Days

Many years ago people realized that children were graduating from NYS schools with a very limited education. The RCTs were introduced in the 70's. Kids had to pass these tests if they could not pass a regents to graduate. These tests measured minimum competency.

The first year they were given I remember being recruited to help mark the writing section. I, along with a bunch of other math teachers complained that English was not our field. We were told to mark , so we did. We did not feel comfortable passing papers where the spelling and grammatical mistakes occurred so often that the ideas in the composition or the letters could not be understood. All our failing grades were overridden by the English chairman. The only good that came out of this is that we were never asked to mark these papers again.

The math exam was a little harder to get passing grades on. The math was either right or wrong. Since the entire test was short answer or multiple choice, there were no gray areas. Even though we had lots failures, people complained this test was too easy also.

To keep improving standards, RCTs were introduced in social studies and science. Again, the state decided that these exams were not good enough. Minimum competency was not competent enough.

Today everyone must pass a certain number of regents exams to graduate. First, the passing grade was 55, but scheduled to change to 65. Since too many kids were still failing, the 65 grade for passing was postponed. Kids can still get their diplomas with 55. Even 55 was too high a grade for some. The Board of Regents could not be wrong about this requirement so the standard needed to pass has been lowered and lowered and lowered. Now, almost everyone passes. Too bad passing doesn't mean anything.

To summarize--state exams were instituted to raise standards. The state exams did not measure a high enough level so they were done away with and everyone was required to pass Regents exams. The regents exams were too hard so the bar to pass the exam was lowered. Kids are now getting regents diplomas and know less than their counterparts with RCT diplomas. It is great to know that NO CHILD IS BEING LEFT BEHIND.

Payment for taking AP Exams

There was an article in today's Newsday that said some public schools would be paying high school students for scoring high grades on Advanced Placement Exams. As an Advanced Placement teacher, I take great offense at this new policy. Taking an AP class is a privilege that is earned through hard work and mastery of prerequisite skills. The rewards for doing well in these classes include college credit. Even more important than the college credit is the study and thinking skills learned in these classes. The students taking these exams will be going to college. No one will (or should) pay them for doing well in college. They should not be paid to do well on these exams in high school.