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As the race for the governorship and other state offices
begins to crystallize, voters will begin to look for campaign trends and the areas
on which they focus. Following the lead of Governor Gilmore, the Republicans
have already staked out their territory and will obviously be emphasizing the
“No New Taxes” theme and perhaps a cut in the tax on food. The Democrats, on
the other hand, though they have some arresting things to say about
education, health care, the business-like operation of state government and
tourism, seem not yet to have gotten the message that strong single issues
win elections. This year, for instance, while they appear to be interested in
things educational, they have yet to come up with a single, substantive issue
to take to the voters. There has been some vague talk about teachers’
salaries and classroom sizes, but beyond that, what? With this in mind, I should like to suggest that there is
indeed one educational issue which would resonate with the voters, and
perhaps even trump the Republicans’ “No New Taxes.” And that is the myriad
problems associated with state SOL tests. The Standards of Learning program,
which began to be fully implemented in 1998, and which was generated and supposedly fine tuned under
Republican governors since the days of George Allen, has, quite frankly, been
somewhat of a pedagogical disaster, for which the state pays $17.9 million a
year. Indeed I, for one, would advocate that the tests and the curricular
monstrosities that attend them be abolished. I would recommend further that
we return the development of sane curricula and meaningful tests to the
teachers and administrators who are best trained to deal with them. Let’s
dump teaching to the tests and get back to teaching students how to read,
write and think critically and logically. An excellent example of what I’m talking about in terms of
curriculum is the 8th grade so-called “history” course, which
purportedly covers in depth everything from day one to 1000 AD. During the
course of one year students deal with pre-history, the history, literature,
mythology, geography and philosophy of ancient Greece and Rome, the history
of ancient Egypt, the history of ancient China, and the origins of just about
every religion known to man. How anyone teaches such a mishmash is quite
beyond me, to say nothing of how students master all the material being
thrown at them. And yet, in its statement relative to history courses, the
State Department of Education (DOE) indicates that “Students will understand
chronological thinking (whatever that is), the connections between causes and
effects and between continuity and change.” This, I would submit, given the
course described above and the enormity of its contents, is hogwash. It is,
in fact, snippetry at it worst, a sampling of a smorgasbord of history. And,
in fact, somewhat paradoxically, the state admits as much when it describes
its testing methodology. Indeed, according to the DOE’s website, the tests
are simply a “sampling of content area and domain.” After looking at several sample test questions in the area
of Greek and Roman history, I can tell you that the DOE is absolutely right.
One question, for instance, asks students to identify the teacher of
Alexander the Great from four possibilities: Socrates, Plato, Agamemnon and
Aristotle. The correct answer is, of course, Aristotle, but what does this
prove? By answering correctly does the student understand why it is important
to know that it was Aristotelian influence, rather than Platonic, which
guided Alexander? Does the question imply that students have read the
Aristotelian political and social treatises which might indicate how
Alexander was influenced? Or what effects those works had on his personal
life or his conduct in office? Probably not. What it indicates is that they
have sampled the domain, and that’s it. No critical thinking, no cause and
effect; just a fact, which in and of itself is meaningless. Our educational
system, then, has been reduced to curricula and tests which sample domains.
Nothing more, nothing less. In fact, things have become so bad that,
according to a Washington Post article on July 17, teachers of any ability
are deserting the public school systems and heading for the greener pastures
of private schools, where they can develop their own curricula and testing
methodologies. And well they might. Their insights and their professional
training are being lost to “teacher resource guides” issued in Richmond. Test
scores and accreditation have become the end all of their careers. Indeed,
the very fact that colleges and universities are forced to offer remedial
courses in reading and writing is a pathetic testimony to the failure our
elementary and high schools to provide these basic learning experiences. And
this, I would submit, is due to the curricular monstrosities and SOL tests
that have reduced education to samples and snippets. Here, then, is an issue for the
Democrats to focus on. And indeed they should force the Republicans into
serious discussions about the system of tests they have fostered. Who knows?
They might find that it resonates with the public to an even greater degree
than “No New Taxes.” |
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lewleadbeater.com Copyright 2002 All Rights Reserved
email: LWL@lewleadbeater.com |
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