I admire the work and research of Dianne Ravitch, the American historian of education. In this interview she discusses themes of how competitiveness does not necessarily lead to increase in competency. She advocates greater competency for teaching and building professional capacity and respect for the teaching profession.
She points out that right now education is driven by conservative economists, emphasizing competition, over and against the views of cognitive psychologists, philosophers, and poverty advocates; all of whom have knowledge to share in terms of how learning happens. The effect of this is that there is a narrow tunnel vision on test scores and these are taken as the only genuine, real measures of learning. So, we are preparing a generation of test takers who are not necessarily more knowledgeable.
Ironically, even though the rhetoric of politicians and leaders is that we must focus on innovation, creativity, and ingenuity, the current emphasis on standardized testing will not produce any of these things. What ends up happening is that you will "punish" those students who think differently or overthink the question. And the student will have a perfectly good reason for selecting the other "wrong" answer. Kids should think about the questions, critically, and the "right" answer is not necessarily more accurate than the one distractor which is close to the "right" answer. She provides an interesting anecdote on the answer of who influenced Martin Luther King the most?
She also discusses the impact of poverty on learning and this is a very important correlate of educational outcomes and this is not always appreciated. We cannot just avert our eyes from this reality.
The rest of the interview focusses on her personal experience which is interesting as well. All in all a good interview and an important scholar of education.
She points out that right now education is driven by conservative economists, emphasizing competition, over and against the views of cognitive psychologists, philosophers, and poverty advocates; all of whom have knowledge to share in terms of how learning happens. The effect of this is that there is a narrow tunnel vision on test scores and these are taken as the only genuine, real measures of learning. So, we are preparing a generation of test takers who are not necessarily more knowledgeable.
Ironically, even though the rhetoric of politicians and leaders is that we must focus on innovation, creativity, and ingenuity, the current emphasis on standardized testing will not produce any of these things. What ends up happening is that you will "punish" those students who think differently or overthink the question. And the student will have a perfectly good reason for selecting the other "wrong" answer. Kids should think about the questions, critically, and the "right" answer is not necessarily more accurate than the one distractor which is close to the "right" answer. She provides an interesting anecdote on the answer of who influenced Martin Luther King the most?
She also discusses the impact of poverty on learning and this is a very important correlate of educational outcomes and this is not always appreciated. We cannot just avert our eyes from this reality.
The rest of the interview focusses on her personal experience which is interesting as well. All in all a good interview and an important scholar of education.
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