Personally I do feel children should be tested but only on certain levels. I feel a "test" to enter kindergarten is silly. Someone entering kindergarten is still a small child and putting restrictions or an academic label on them is not right. I do feel that children should be given basic tests for their age group. I see that too many people put too much emphasis on the word test and children tend to freak out. Teachers and schools often do this because that is how they get their grant money by the scores their schools receive. Testing our children should not be about the money it brings in but about the quality of education that the children will leave with. I also feel that there should be some kind of stress test or an emotional test to see how our children are feeling and how they deal with every day life, how that test would work I am not sure, just think that they should be checked out in order to possibly prevent any type of bad happenings.
In Japan children are assessed on a whole other level than we are here in America. They begin their testing very young. Their tests also consist of academics that our children do not deal with. Those children's lives are based upon those tests given. It is to bring shame upon your family if you do not do well. The children are under so much pressure that it would put of SOL tests to shame. The children of Japan are tested on academics as well as their culture and traditions that are rendered in their country.
I never knew that testing could be such a harsh thing for a child until I learned the basis behind the testing. It honestly angers me to see that the only reason these types of tests are given is to bring money into the districts and the schools, so that the adults can benefit, not to better the education of our children.
Nice Post TIffany. I agree that there should not be a kindergarten readiness. When my Granddaughter enrolled last year, one of the tests was whether or not she sould tie her shoe. I'm not sure what that had to do with entering school.
ReplyDeleteI can remember when I was in grade school we were broken up into 6 different groups. We were all named after Indian tribes (we were the Williams Warriors, which isn't politically correct anymore). No adult ever told us that we were grouped according to ability, but we all knew it. We were put into these groups based upon our test scores. This allowed the group as a whole to move at a pace that was good for the group. There was not a lot of wait time for the 'smarter' kids while the other kids caught up with their learning. What I see in the schools today is what I refer to as "the dumbing down of America." Our schools are spending the majority at time and resources on the lowest performing kids and the top performers are left to fend for themselves. If we were stil allowed to group according to ability, the United States might be able to compete with other industrialized nations.
ReplyDeleteI think testing is important, but children shold be testing using a variety of methods.