Missed challenges more worrisome than tests
My long-time friend and source Ken Bernstein, known as teacherken to his many online fans, produced the most-read article on the Post’s Web site recently. He apologized to college professors for our high schools’ failure to prepare students “for the kind of intellectual work that you have every right to expect of them.”
Just retired from an award-winning career in Prince George’s County, Ken said students are not given “meaningful social studies instruction” before they reach high school because the federal No Child Left Behind law forces elementary and middle schools to focus on reading and math. Ken said the Advanced Placement Government exams he prepared his students for put too much emphasize on memorizing content. They gave no credit for good writing. In the piece, which first appeared in Academe, the journal of the American Association of University Professors, Ken said the legislators who created the tests failed to hear teachers’ warnings of stymied learning.
I agree that many students arrive in college ill-equipped to go deep into their studies and capture vital concepts. But that was a problem long before we started rating schools by their state exam averages. As a