Considering what he does for a living, I guess his education suited him just fine. Wonder how many people in the real world could make it with that kind of education? Think that all the engineers and doctors could make a living without having standardized tests? At least enough to know how far up the education ladder they've climbed. Being an actor, and making alot of money is fine. But, the world needs more business people,professional's,medical reasearchers, scientists, than actors. gypsyman
Hmmm, seems like they did just fine designing Saturn rockets, SR71's, the Golden Gate bridge, the pyramids in Egypt, the Panama Canal and just about EVERYTHING that was ever invented, built or developed until the past 20 years. Standardized tests were not and are not required for education. They are only required for justification. Standardized tests are fine to measure whether a kid has LEARNED anything. But when a school takes TWO weeks off from normal educational processes to prep for the tests that determine funding for that school, that is when the program is seriously AFU! This past year, my son (11th grade in Texas) took two weeks of prep for some tests and then another week prep for more tests. Of course then comes SAT, ACT, ASVAB and whatever else has been dreamed. I would bet that altogether he missed 4-5 weeks of classroom LEARNING to prep for tests for which he should already have been taught the answer. Prepping for the test or "drill and kill" is just to see how much money the school gets the next year. The better the scores the more funding, so more time is spent drilling and prepping. Nothing like teaching the test instead of teaching the student.
It's not whether or not standardized tests are valid indicators of educational progress. It's not a question of the format; whether oral, essay, multiple choice or fill in the blank. It's a question of standardized tests as indicators of a school or teacher's performance and therefore that school or teacher's financial benefits for the next year. I took years of standardized tests (the old "Achievement Tests") at the end of every school year. We were never TAUGHT the test. We finished our school work on Friday and the next week we took the tests. The process now is different. Education stops and teaching the test begins... I guarantee that without regard for the supposed nobleness of the teaching profession, if next year's salary (or even "employment") were based upon the cumulative performance of 30 kids on a standardized test... about 90% of the teachers will teach the test and be glad to do so.
Standardized tests are a valid measure of educational progress, they are NOT a valid educational tool. Scheduled and known standardized tests that are "prepped for" and "taught" are NOT a valid measure of educational progress. Schools should NOT be funded and teachers should NOT be paid based upon how well they can prep a class full of students to pass a KNOWN test.
NGH
