Consider for a moment what is expected of adults. They are expected to have jobs, make families, be involved in the community; they are expected to achieve something and to do something meaningful to somebody other than themselves. Consider the expectations for teenagers: don't do drugs, stay in school, don't mess up. Yes, teenagers are not adults - they are still growing and learning and experiencing, but aren't we all? I don't know that an 80 year old man would wake up in the morning and think, "I am equipped with infinite knowledge!" We never stop learning. So why should the expectations for people be different if they are going through the same things?
Teenagers need to hold themselves to higher standards. If adults are expected to make something of themselves (even young adults) with the experience that they have, teenagers should be expected to do something more than just "not mess up."
What are these standards exactly though? The thing about that is that we cannot pinpoint what everybody should achieve. Everybody learns at a different pace and experiences things in any given sequence. This is why we need to have our own, individualized expectations and should be responsible to ourselves for meeting and exceeding them. This is where standardized testing is flawed. Yes, I understand the need to test for understanding, but why not raise the standards for everyone? If one person is able to achieve at a certain lever, why not make that the standard.
What kind of expectations do you have for yourself?
What do you suggest as a substitute for or addition to standardized testing?
There have been so many pressures put on standardized testing such as TAKS. The problem I find with that is I understand there needs to be some type of norm to make comparisons but teachers need to focus on teaching students what they need to know and challenging them to grow on what they know, building into more difficult or higher level thinking. Most teachers have taught their students how to pass these tests instead of focusing on what they need to learn and are expected to learn. Children need to explore learning and develop understanding before anything else. The process of learning is the most important. While children do need to understand the correct answers, the process comes first. Without the fundamentals, the product will never be meaningful. Goals and expectations need to be made for each individual student as well as holding a group to a specific standard that can be attained by all.
ReplyDeleteThank you for your thoughts, Erica! I really liked that you said "Without the fundamentals, the product will never be meaningful." I'm still trying to process that. I like things that make me think. Can you expound upon that some more?
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