Thompson: What's the Real Harm in the Wasting of Post-Test Time?
In Do Lazy June Days Include Too Many Parties and Movies?, The Washington Post's Jay Mathews says that June 1 is "the traditional beginning of parental complaints about how little work is done as the school year nears an end." He cites an Arlington parent who complains, “Every year the standardized tests come and go, and after that the education stops.”
Well duh! The suburban dad should remember that education often stops when the annual test prep season begins. Moreover, this testing teaches lessons about life that I bet most parents would reject.
After further inquiry into what was happening at his son's suburban school after testing finished, the father discovered that more opportunities for learning were still being offered than many would have anticipated. But, he concludes, “Nearly this entire week seems like a waste of time to me.” I believe Mathews reached a wiser conclusion, "He (the dad) has a point, but given the depth of what his sons have been learning during the year, I’d let it go."
I'd also ask whether schools today have too few parties and movies during their entire year. It is especially worrisome that films and videos aren't used enough to teach cultural literacy. My biggest concern, however, is that accountability pressures are teaching value systems that are disgusting.
My first principal said she could never figure me out - a liberal who held students to high behavioral standards. She wasn't surprised that a former academic's second rule was "work smart," "focus," and "learn how to learn." She couldn't wrap her mind around a free thinker, who taught "creative insubordination," but whose first rule was "work steady from bell to bell." There were important academic reasons (like avoiding classroom distractions) why I insisted on a rigorous work ethic. The big reason, however, was the real-world need for teens to develop "inner-directedness" and self-control.
By the second semester, freshmen could be held to the same standards as upper-classpersons, which means they couldn't give in to distractions. Especially for seniors, the spring semester was a victory lap where we pulled our year and high school careers together in a celebratory manner. And, before the testing mania, students had field trips and seniors had projects to complete and internships to attend.
My favorite memory of a student being inspired by a senior project was that of a black Republican, Rick (as I'll call him.) Rick claimed that he was such an outstanding intern at a law office (which had been victorious in education cases before the U.S. Supreme Court) that he was allowed to This Week In Education: Thompson: What's the Real Harm in the Wasting of Post-Test Time?:
