Re: OT-ish: txt - Could it replace Standard Written English?

H. S. Teoh scripsit:

> But I think in N. America, people are overreacting to it and have gone to
> the other extreme, which is what Tom Lehrer is making fun of in that
> quote. The correct answer *is* important in that sense: in the real world,
> nobody cares about whether you correctly apply your methods;  they want to
> see the final results, and the final results better be darned right.
The pendulum is in the last few years swinging back even more violently the
other way, to high-stakes testing.  "Get enough answers right, get your
diploma: get them wrong, lose forever."  This cure is worse than the disease,
because it actually makes more sensible teaching methods impossible.

In my daughter's former high school, the (egomaniac) principal decided to
have everyone in Grade 9 take the Biology exam, which is not usually taken
in New York State until the end of grade 10.  Because he is evaluated on how
his students do on these high-stakes tests, he had *every teacher* in every
Grade 9 class teach biology.  The English teacher taught biology.  The
history teacher taught biology.  For all I know, the physical-education teacher
taught biology.

This, I submit, is no way to run a school.

Her new school is based on "portfolio evaluation", and has a waiver from the
high-stakes tests.  Students graduate or not depending on the quality of the
total body of their work (placing of course more emphasis on the more recent
material).


--
John Cowan           http://www.ccil.org/~cowan              cowan@ccil.org
To say that Bilbo's breath was taken away is no description at all.  There
are no words left to express his staggerment, since Men changed the language
that they learned of elves in the days when all the world was wonderful.
        --_The Hobbit_

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