Are you smarter than a school board member?
Dec 7, 2011, 8:25 AM
Listen to Dave Ross Commentary: Are you smarter than a school board member?
Look at this: a member of the school board in Orange County Florida took the FCAT – the Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test — and failed.
His name is Rick Roach, and he’s no dummy: he has a bachelor of science and two masters in education. But on the tenth grade FCAT, he scored 62 percent on the reading section, and couldn’t answer ANY of the math questions. He got ten right by just guessing.
An so he concludes that the test has no practical purpose except to make smart kids feel stupid.
OK. I know we hate tests. They scare us. The web is full of test anxiety videos.
But tell me: Where did educators get the idea that tests are flawed because the adults can’t pass them?
The kids are SUPPOSED to be smarter than the school board. AND smarter than their parents.
That’s the whole reason behind organized education!
If our kids were only as smart as the school board, we’d still be wondering why apples fall to the ground.
Only if the next generation is smarter than we are can we hope for a day when every e-mail attachment will open properly.
That’s why it’s worth getting up in the morning.
Knowing that our kids are smarter than we are gives us the hope that as screwed up things are, the NEXT generation might just have a chance of getting it right. Or at least screw it up differently. PLEASE screw it up differently. It keeps history interesting.
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Tune in to KIRO Newsradio weekdays at 5am for Dave Ross on Seattle's Morning News.
