Steve says:

As a former teacher, I must say this very idea is utterly terrifying. I don’t smoke, but after reading that, I think I might need a smoke.

gnomic says:

Why don’t we simply skip this step and send the little buggers back into the coal mines or teach them something practical, like working on an oil rig? When they promised no child left behind, they didn’t exactly explain that them meant dragging their sorry little butts outta childhood did they?

David Lee Frater says:

Obviously, the city planners at NYC in charge of their school system all went to Ivy League Schools, on scholarships, when they were merely 9.

Apparently, in their opinions, 5 year old children, many of which still need help to tie their shoe laces, should be in advanced algebra classes as early as possible.

My oldest dearest friend, who passed away a couple of years ago, had a pet saying he loved to use when confronted with such matters…

“It’s a case of the inmates in charge of the insane asylum…”

David

Admiral says:

Ugh. much lols for gnomic.

I have three young children. Let them BE children. Kintergarden is about social interaction and playing while learning. I do remember having to count to 100 and knowing all my ABC’s and simple three or four word spelling.

I have a funny story that I remember to this day.

My teacher took each of us aside to ask us how to read and spell words one day. When it was my turn the word she showed me to read was SIX. Oddly I thought that the word was SEX and refused to say it.. She asked over and over again what the word was and I would not say it because I though it was SEX instead of SIX. She got upset that I would not say a simple three letter word. I finally figured it out and said SIX after quite a while of sitting there and not saying anything. I do not know why I remember this but I laugh every time I do.

Anyway let kids be kids. Making them take tests at such an early age will only make them not like school.

Leland says:

OK…

You don’t like standardized testing? How do we go about measuring exactly what and how much our children are being taught in school? Why should something as important as educating our children get a pass on measuring how well they are doing their job?

Our public schools are a disaster. The school my children went through in Texas were more interested in turning out culturally sensitive, politically correct liberals then real world skills that will actually serve them in the real world.

You know those trivial skills, filling our a job application? How to balance a check book? Count change?

gnomic says:

Leland,

Standardized test for kindergärtners? UGBFKM! What are we testing them for, crayon and paste eating skills?

The whole point of kindergärtner is to teach them to adjust to a structured learning environment. It is a behavioral class that should be judged through group observation, not individual testing.

I’ve got no issue with standardized tests per se, but they have to be applied properly and the outcome used appropriately. The teachers don’t control these kids lives; holding them accountable for their test performance makes very little sense in the way we do it.

I agree that the public school system is broke, that a lot of teachers should be fired (if not outright executed), and that the schools don’t teach useful skills or how to think. These days, they teach how to take and pass a test, year after year.

The can fill out a standardized fill in the space with a #2 pencil flawlessly. Can’t write, can’t think, can’t do math, but that square is completely filled in.

And I speak from experience - I teach for a state university.

I also lived in Texas. The schools there don’t produce liberals. They produce the same gun totin’ rednecks that the state is famous for, as well at 14% to 19% teen pregnancy rate (those abstinence programs are really paying off).

what we need is a standardized test for school boards and political appointees that disqualify people who can’t pass the tests that they are forcing upon the schools. The test should also include the ability to make a good decision, the ability to govern effectively. basics laws (like the US Constitution), the ability to tell the difference between science and crackpot religious doctrines and discredited political ideology.

Maybe then we will start getting the results we keep saying we want, rather than the ones we deserve.

If you want smart kids, you also need to quit teaching them stupid sh*t. They can learn that at home or in Sunday school.

Leland says:

In kindergarten my kids all came out knowing their colors, numbers and ABCs. They could identify various farm animals and common objects around the classroom. Those that didn’t already know were taught how to hold a pencil and how to run a pair of scissors. All these things could be tested.

In fact I think they should be. The fastest way to ruin a kid on school for the rest of his/her life would be to drop these very young, bright eyed students into an environment where they do not have the skills necessary to proceed. And worse where they get labeled and picked on by their peers for being “dumb” or “stupid.” Even worse then that, getting the “special” label from a teacher who is too lazy to catch the child up.

But that is not the point of the post. The point is that school boards and the teacher’s unions all fight any attempt at establishing a standard the product of their teaching may be measured by.

There is no excuse for letting the teachers of our greatest assets have a pass on accountability.

UGBFKM? I think I should have been tested on that.

Leland says:

P.S. Roger that on the pregnancy rate. It was frightening how many of my daughter’s friends rang that bell.

But the school my kids were in would suspend students for even drawing pictures of guns or war scenes. In one class they were taught that there is no reason to own a gun and that only someone with criminal leanings would possess one. (I fought and lost that battle, big time.)

I don’t know where you are getting the gun totin’ red neck thing. Clearly that wasn’t the case in San Marcos, TX.

tommy says:

Although some kids that age may be ‘ready’ or ‘receptive,’ force feeding kids ‘knowledge’ deprives them the lessons they need at that age.

The example of tying shoes is perfect. If they can’t tie their shoes, who gives a rat’s petootie if they can add two numbers.

They need to learn to interact with other kids, and with adults. They need to play with puppets, dip their arms in paint (or mud), play dodgeball (if they allow it anymore?), use their bodies, experience childhood.

Standardized testing is for older kids, not kindergarteners.

90 minutes of testing kindergarteners? That’s an even bigger load.

gnomic says:

Leland,

I have no problem with the kids being evaluated on the items you mentioned - I was. And I failed. Miserably. My mother was so shocked that I was marched back to school and retested. And was immediately advanced 2 grades.

Under standardized testing, I would have failed. Period. And many kindergarders will. Most simply can’t relate well to a written test, a skill that most won’t develop until late in 1st or in 2nd grade. Evaluation is more reliable, although it could be an independant evalauation.

But Andrew specifical said a math test. A MATH TEST? YGBFKM! (You gotta be phucking kidding me!)

I was in Monahans, TX. ‘nuf said?

As for the gun thing, that is not liberal, its the same stupid over-reaction that many schools have. It has nothing to do with political correctness, it has to do with ideology and teachers/administrations imposing thier beliefs on others. I’m absolutly opposed to teaching that sort of thing in public schools.