A student who doesn’t like tests?
Dale De Atley
Reading Amanda Rubenstein’s stand on standardized testing reminded me
that I once supported a movement to “improve” education by grading
academic performance as simply “pass” or “fail.”
Similarly to Amanda, I knew that students wanted to genuinely
learn and not be taught to regurgitate facts and figures. I believed
educators and the system were misguided because they wanted to put me
in a box marked A, B or C.
Since Amanda’s teachers at Corona del Mar won’t tell her, I will
-- Grow up. Competition, from standardized testing to your salary and
where you live, is the very essence of the American experience.
Teachers “teach to regurgitate” because that is what the community
and state requires of them. Teachers present the content and depth of
subject matter dedicated by the state based on what will be tested in
May. The political and economic factors dictating education standards
in California are the result of our country’s need to compete with
the entire world for new technologies and diminishing resources.
Excellent performance in any contest, decided by standards, proves
you are better at what’s being tested. If one or two teachers at
Corona del Mar High School sit at the back of the class, not
interacting with students, perhaps the standard to challenge is not
academic performance but rather union-protected tenure.
Amanda’s passion for education would be better served by the
selection of a more time-worthy senior project. I suggest she
research the significant issues and solutions associated with
educating students in our little Newport-Mesa Unified School District
representing worldwide ethnic diversities, unfathomably wide economic
diversities and tragically wide parental diversities. Oh, and don’t
forget, with a shamefully poor budget. I believe research in that
area might yield a more productive result and satisfy Amanda’s need
to think analytically.
* DALE DE ATLEY is a Costa Mesa resident.
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