CavernSense

It is about time. Throw out some of those ridiculous standardized tests. How can numbers on a scale possibly show how students will perform in the classroom? Or how they will do in life when they find their niche? Anyone who advocates standardized tests from behind a desk needs to go in the classroom and teach for a while — get in there and talk to them as if they are people. Every single student brings something different and unique to the group. Sometimes it is annoying behavior, but most of the time it is a skill or a bit of knowledge or the ability to question all the “trust me” messages they get bombarded with by companies that only want their money. “Heh, don’t question me just pay me.”

Or the messages from our “for the people” government. “Don’t question me, just obey me.”

I won’t start in on the myriad of other “don’t question me” authoritative figures. That would only turn into a rant.

Some colleges have decided to drop the requirement for the SAT. Huzzah! There is nothing worse than a group of students whose creativity and analytical thinking is squelched because the teacher has to teach to the test. Students are coming to college expecting to be told what they have to learn. They are often shocked when I tell them I want them to think first, learn second. LOL, that they question.  Well, it’s a start.

I hope that this policy trickles, no floods down to the grade school level. We should leave the tests behind rather than the students and teachers whose relationship suffers as they struggle not to fail the tests — and each other.