In this world of Testomania, (SF Chronicle, July 10),
I wish people would understand that there's a World, Nay, A Universe of difference between learning Algebra and learning to Take An Algebra Test. Indeed, this is true for any subject. It's pretty clear, clear to anybody who's spent a largish part of their educational years being drilled to take high stakes tests (PSAT, SAT, LSAT, GRE, etc...) at any rate, that it's an entirely different kind of learning. Cramming short-term memory with testable data as opposed to learning concepts and methodology. For those who are natively good at test-taking, this doesn't make a lot of difference. But for those who need to study to learn, which at some level is ALL OF US, the looming Standardized Test Of Educational Achievement pretty much sucks the life out of learning.
As I've tried to say before, it's a pretty good generalization when talking about schools to say "That's not how people learn!"
I wish people would understand that there's a World, Nay, A Universe of difference between learning Algebra and learning to Take An Algebra Test. Indeed, this is true for any subject. It's pretty clear, clear to anybody who's spent a largish part of their educational years being drilled to take high stakes tests (PSAT, SAT, LSAT, GRE, etc...) at any rate, that it's an entirely different kind of learning. Cramming short-term memory with testable data as opposed to learning concepts and methodology. For those who are natively good at test-taking, this doesn't make a lot of difference. But for those who need to study to learn, which at some level is ALL OF US, the looming Standardized Test Of Educational Achievement pretty much sucks the life out of learning.
As I've tried to say before, it's a pretty good generalization when talking about schools to say "That's not how people learn!"
No comments:
Post a Comment