Sydney Scott Mrs. Angela Lockhart English 100 9/23/2012 Refutation of “No Child Left Behind: Test-Obsessed Education Won’t Move Us Ahead Is standardized testing the key to a student’s success in education? This seems to be a common question asked by parents, students, and teachers. Education is a key part of life even though it has certain requirements that must be met, such as testing skills. Standardized testing is a common educational tool in today’s society. It appears that testing is a waste of time, but in reality, it prepares students for future success.
Education is basically gaining knowledge that is relevant to life. When I say relevant to life I mean to target America’s educational system. In this system, we learn about everything and anything that will never help us throughout our lives as mature adults. I’ve realized that education and knowledge are considered closely intertwined by many. In the educational system in America, it shouldn’t.
Fleming, G. (n.d.). Know and Use Your Personal Learning Style. Retrieved March 21, 2012, from About.com: http://homeworktips.about.com/od/homeworkhelp/a/learningstyle.htm Hutton, S. (2007). Helping Kinesthetic Learners Succeed. Retrieved March 21, 2012, from education.com: http://www.education.com/magazine/article/kinesthetic_learner/ OSU - Oregon State University.
Gerald Graff points out the pressure that society and school put on students to be academically intelligent. Students must have the perfect grades and attend the highest ranking school. Students also have to go to extreme measures to just get through one class because they know that failing is not a option. As Graff says, “To say that students need to see their interests “through academic eyes” is to say that street smarts are not enough” (p.303). I agree with what Graff says and also agree when he says, “The challenge, as a college professor Ned Laff has put it, “is not simply to exploit students’ nonacademic interests, but to get them to see those interests through academic eyes” (p.302).
NCLB set forth a certain criteria to be met, but allowed the states to determine how they would accomplish it. Therefore, each state handles assessment and accountability differently. This makes it hard to show success or failure of the programs. Supporters and critics alike can cite research that supports their opinion. My opinion of NCLB is it is flawed, developmentally inappropriate, ill funded, ←and→ leaving more students, teachers, ←and→ schools behind than ever before because The tests have turned into the objective of classroom instruction rather than the measure of teaching ←and→ learning.
Thrust for Educational Leadership, 21(6), 35-37. Murzyn, L. (1998, January 25). Year-round school concept catching on. The Times, p. B9. Peltier, G. L. (1991, September).
Cheating, fear of failure are just some of the examples that existing in the graded-oriented environment. Measureable outcomes are necessary but it doesn’t mean that teachers have to turn everything into numbers; in fact grades are the “least significant results of learning”. Although the absence of “assessment-based grading” is a necessary; teachers should consider these following grading techniques: replace numbers and letter with rubrics, prepare students to every test without fortify their knowledge, post grades online only add more destructive effects on learning, students are willing to read your comments about their works and finally
Considerations in relation to funding should be explored throughout the document. Realistically, equipping all schools and students with ICT technologies is a costly task. There is no mention to how such initiatives will be funded. This highlights the vague nature of the National Document. In addition, an increased hands-on approach to learning should be investigated; for example work experience and internship programs.
That parents stress to children the importance of education all their school lives, but they continue to give money things that are less important, instead they should put money towards the teachers who wants to help make a difference in every child's life. Barber believes that parents should actually display their actions that they care and value their education. He explains who are to blame for the lack of quality education in America. The generations before the young and the government have a partial blame in why the school system is failing. Barber's argument is more superior, because he takes the sociopolitical context of education in to account, where as Henry does not.
Theories are constantly replaced or updated due to the self-corrective nature of science. The ideal scientists do not assume the truth beforehand; rather, their conclusions derive from the simplest and most plausible explanation of the data, and those conclusions may still differ. Yet alternatives should only be taught in public schools as far as they yield to a proper approach to the scientific method. This set of criteria will be used to address the debate over Intelligent Design’s presence in the curriculum of publicly-funded schools. The phrase “evolutionary theory” is actually misleading because it implies there is only one comprehensive model.