Education Issues and The Politics of Standardized Testing Considered

Not long ago, there was an exciting piece in Newsweek on the reality US education versus the rest of the planet. The article was written by Robert Samuelson, and he touched on a couple of incredibly intriguing points. Namely, if we separate out the ESL Hispanic test scores and the low-African American test scores then the US test scores when pitted against all of Europe, Canada, and so on., truly come out the same or greater. And if we take the Asian American students and put them up against China, Japan, South Korea, etc., the come out suitable in the identical ball-park.

Now then, so you can stick to along on my comments, I certainly hope you will go read this article in Newsweek "A Completely different View of The Education Dilemma" by Robert Samuelson. Then come back to my post right here and let's have an honest and frank discussion with no the political correctness shall we Deal? And although you are at it, please also read the post "Why Chinese Mothers Are Superior" by Amy Chua published in the Wall Street Journal on January 8-9, 2011.

Okay so, Robert Samuelson mentioned some factors which are not politically appropriate, and it is sure to lead to a stir, but of course he's correct, we know he's correct - that is observable. It might possibly not be observable on an individual basis, but percentage sensible it certainly makes ideal sense. Nevertheless, I have a couple of points of contention. Namely, I do not feel the US should really be anything but Quantity 1 in everything!

So, even if we separate out all the ESL Youngsters, and Black Children from the survey, our Non-Hispanic or Anglos are not number 1 according to his post and data references and they should be! Even so, with regards to those cited surveys - I do not trust ANY survey done by the OCED, or coming out of Belgium or Paris, I don't trust such surveys.

Why you ask, well it is my opinion that the French can not even win their personal bicycle race, and are busy selling military assets representing the strength of NATO to Russia - so I I am not positive I think or even genuinely care what they have to say. Usually I really feel as if they'd say something to put themselves ahead of the US and themselves on podiums and pedestals.

Now then, I'd hate to see the "No Child Left Behind" turn into a mandate for "No Kid Allowed to Advance" with regards to those children who excel for whatever reason, be it genetic expression, positive family function models, or sheer will. Every individual child excels at distinct times in their physiological and mental development in several places of math, abstract thought, reading, and creativity - when they are ready and get started to excel, let them go conquer that niche, express themselves, and move forward, as they are in a position, aid them acquire their niche and be successful.

Indeed, these skills will transfer to all other areas of their development. Achievement abilities are similar in all areas of human endeavor, holding them back is pure evil, it really is like placing a child in a space with absolutely nothing but blank walls.

Let's speak about that WSJ article with regards to Chinese Moms, I think it is appropriate, and Asian families push their kids tougher, not just to be in the top rated tier of the class, but to be the very best in each and every class. That to me seems "so American" in thinking, why aren't white anglo parents carrying out the exact same, or Hispanic or Black parents? You see, there is nothing at all wrong with getting quantity a single.

In fact, I was talking to a teacher out of North Las Vegas a great number of years back, and she was new, loved her job and went to every student's property to meet the parents and she could tell which children would excel and which would have complications in reading based on the number of books and magazines lying about and the number of book shelves in the home.

She's appropriate, that's "real planet" too, and possibly this is why I am not surprised with anything in that Newsweek article. The only question is what to do about it? It appears that the politics behind academia is frequently in denial, and the political correctness, lawsuits, politicians, parents, and unions all have demands that are however counter-productive to hassle-free solutions. Please consider all this.