This sounds like a really deep topic. It is and I have divided the conversation into two sections.
Section #1: Schooling
Section #2: Education
#1 – Schooling and Education are not the same phenomenon. Schooling at this point in time refers to learning the necessary facts to pass THE TEST. Monday begins the “purpose of school” – THE TEST. I wonder if I have taught my students the material they need to know to do well. I know I have “covered” the information, but have I really taught it to them? Only THE TEST will tell if they know the facts the state expects them to know. And only THE TEST will show if I am an effective teacher.
#2 – Education is another story. I try desperately in my teaching to educate my students while they grasp some level of understanding about the required curriculum. Education is a life-long pursuit that I hope I have instilled some sort of desire in them to continue to be inquisitive and questioning. Being educated can not be evaluated on a multiple choice test. How will the test show that my students really learned about the lack of clean water in African countries and that some of them donated money towards building a well? It doesn’t ask the question that says, “What responsibility does a student have to examine the underlying meanings of what is included and not included in the text?”
Well – you get the idea. Next week is the CRCT test that will tell all!
I think the teacher is only one part of the equation, as I'm sure you would agree. Other parts are: the student and his/her commitment to and immersion in the learning process; the parents and the level of their support; and finally the curriculum itself--does it lend itself to analytical learning or rote learning to pass the test. Beyond that there is the confluence of some or all of these variables which is difficult to assess. Anyway, bottom line: I'm sure you're an excellent teacher and many of your students will do well, others poorly, and the rest average--which will reflect some on you, some on them, some on their parents or guardians, some on the curriculum and perhaps even some on the dynamics created between all or some of those variables.
ReplyDeleteI hope your students do well on The Test. May "The State" have mercy on all of the teacher's souls!!!!!
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