DISQUS

Johndmc · 10 months ago

Kids all across Connecticut have been given a reprieve today with the snow from enduring the start of the CMTs (Connecticut Mastery Test or Child Mind Torture as they are known to the kids.) They have been getting ready to take these standardized tests (mandated by No Child Left Behind) all year long with no obvious connection to what is going on in the classroom. Actually today they were going to be taken the Practice CMTs. Practice. For a meaningless test. Grr...

albert · 10 months ago

Our kids are taking a New York test tomorrow. At least Scarsdale Schools refuse to teach to the test. They simply sent around a note to parents saying essentially: Your kids may not do so well on these tests because we don't let them dictated what we teach.

derrinyet · 10 months ago

I think you're right on about the continuity of knowledge.

The compartmentalization of "disciplines" continues through college, and at a certain point becomes completely contradictory! (One example from my college experience: a continental philosophy course and a conversation analysis/ethnomethodology course taught completely conflicting views about the nature of language. If I hadn't been taking both, I never would have known both perspectives existed.)

Gerald Graff has advocated "teaching the conflicts" to show students, many of whom may have lost the passion for learning, that the disciplines can and do speak to each other, and that creating knowledge is something they can participate in. Graff's strategy might be a palliative one, but I think it's a good place to start.

albert · 10 months ago

Definitely a good place to start. But the existing system has a lot of inertia, as teachers/professors essentially evaluate students and future teachers and professors along the lines of the existing fields. I tried to double major in college because my interest combined computers and economics. Ultimately my diploma only says economics because I could not get the two professors to agree on and had to hand in my thesis in only one department.

David Noël · 10 months ago

Great post, Albert. I've been thinking a lot about the same things lately, based on my own experience.

I just reblogged Fred's quotation of your post and added my thoughts and experience and would love to know what you think:
http://echolot.tumblr.com/post/82884158/learnin...

I'm midway through A Whole New Mind and think it's great. I bought 'Be Nice, Work Hard' but haven't read it yet - it sure looks interesting.

David

albert · 10 months ago

Loved your post. Will check out "Be Nice, Work Hard"

David Noël · 10 months ago

Thanks, Albert. Appreciate.

willwhutson · 10 months ago

Had dinner last night with one of my college profs and went over his specialization in real depth. He believes deeply in constructivism within the classroom and decentralization in school districts in order to accomplish greater by in from both students (in the classrooms) and parents (in their micro-districts).

I think that their is a role for standardized testing, but it should be one that is wide, not deep in its abilities. Their are 8 different types of learners, standardized testing focuses on 2 maybe 3 if its cognitive.

As always, great post.

WH

Ps. My mentor/profs name is Art Shapiro is you're looking for more great reads, his published works are prolific in this area of thought.

albert · 10 months ago

Thanks. Will look for it. Love how the web enables this kind of learning from each other.

tweetip · 10 months ago

Great post Albert. About your aside : google : In 2004 I emailed Google asking for a feed of realtime data, suggesting there was something more happening than search could find. Never heard back :) as their stock rocketed from $139 to a high of $700+. The rise in their pps points to how deeply flawed the 'code' running our civilization is. That code is set early and hard. From a purely sustainable point of view, this code won't scale to handle the issues we are about to face, together. @nk twittered earlier today during the power meltdown; "There are times to solve problems and there are times to blindly work around them." - This bit of info will never float to the top of google, but for me it is a marker. And by blind, we infer 'participatory feeling'. This feeling is what we, collectively, are numb-ed to and what artists struggle to remember.

albert · 10 months ago

Like the tweet from NK. Even better is when you can design the problem away (rather than solve it).

tweetip · 10 months ago

Curiously, we think the design bit hides in the blind bit :)

bijan · 9 months ago

great post Albert.