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| WRONG, DEAD WRONG every day in real life is a final exam |
I also started at a very early age to rebel against "studying for the exam" by studying to learn. I read the newspapers because I could learn something there. I listened to the radio because I could learn something there. I listened to the old people talking because I could learn something there. I would stay close to my grandfather and my father as they worked in the cellar or outside because I could learn something there. I watched my father do applied math and learned nothing there. I got a C- in algebra, a C in physics and a C in chemistry. Everywhere else I was 3.8 GPA. Still, I never crammed for a test. Tests were for the teachers, not for me. I know what I know. If you want to know what I know, talk to me, don't "test" me. I don't play that game. Ever since the third grade or so. Seriously. I was the bane of EFR Dion's existence. He would ask me, "Did you study for the test?" I would say, "No. I won't fail." He would ask, "Are you going to get 100%?" My answer was always, "Who cares?" His final, disgusted comment was "You've got no pride." End of colloquy. He was right. I had no pride. Still don't. I got better. I got arrogance. I still can't pass a math class with more than a C- too.
Here I am, a senior citizen and I still don't believe in tests. They are ridiculous realities. There came a time when I allowed myself to be cajoled into taking the preliminary eligibility teacher test in California, better know as the "C-BEST." I signed up. Paid my $25.00. Showed up for the 3 hour test. Listened to the cry-babies who were there for the fourth time and after three "review" classes. Sat down with two newly sharpened pencils and took the test. 2.25 hours later I laid the papers on the desk and returned home. I passed, 90%. I never got a teaching job because I am not qualified. Heee. Somewhere in California some poor little boy with a 130 IQ has to sit there and be "taught" by a teacher who flunked the C-BEST four times.
This post is rather long, so I will bring it to an end now. Tests are the only measures that exist for quantifying human performance. I know that. So, here is my solution to the bad teacher problem in the United States. It is a two-stage testing program.
1 stage: Every teacher has to take a state constructed test covering the material of the grade taught the for the last 185 school days.
2 stage: Students take a state constructed test covering the material that was supposed to be taught for the last 185 school days.
- Teachers who get a grade below 95% get suspended without pay for one school year.
- Students who make a grade of 70% advance one grade. All others repeat the grade.
Is there anyone in government in this country with balls enough to do this? I doubt it.
I like your 2-stage solution to the education problem. But then again, that is why you will never be elected president of the USA. You're requiring successful work as a measure of advancement from everyone. :-)
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