In my search for articles that deal with art and education I found one that doesn’t quite deal with art but the concept of a liberal education. It also, some what tied into my previous post (or rant) about standardized tests. This is the perfect example of why standardized test do not test how much knowledge someone has about a topic, but rather how well they can memorize and recall dates, names, and characters. Let alone covers such a broad variety of material that not every high school covers. A survey was conducted by they group called Common Core. The survey was given to teenagers in America over the phone. Sam Dillon reported this for the New York Times, “A significant proportion of teenagers live in “stunning ignorance” of history and literature.”
Based on a series of literature and history questions that were given in this survey Common Core determined that because of “No Child Left Behind” other subjects are being neglected. Interestingly, Dillon points out, that much of the founding board and executives had a part in constructing and approving of the act, being mostly democrats and having much influence when the act was being drawn up.
Dillon also says that:
“In a joint introduction to their report, Ms. Cortese and Dr. Ravitch did not directly blame the No Child law for the dismal results but said it had led schools to focus too narrowly on reading and math, crowding time out of the school day for history, literature and other subjects.”
This is something that makes no sense to me. Yes, I agree that too much time is spent on trying to teach to standardized tests. But, as far as I’m aware, unless something has changed, aren’t all class periods the same amount of time for even amounts of time through out the week?
Ms. Cortese and Dr. Ravitch also say, “The nation’s education system has become obsessed with testing and basic skills because of the requirements of federal law, and that is not healthy.” This much is obvious. I’m not sure if their suggesting that NCLB be done away with or testing in other subjects be required. But, I am getting the feeling that they just want more testing. If this is the case then there is no hope for schools funding or students learning skills that are going to help them in the future. You also may as well kiss art programs behind.
Based on some of the questions that were given in this survey it is as though Common Core just falls into the exact same category as standardized tests. “Fewer than half of American teenagers who were asked basic history and literature questions in a phone survey knew when the Civil War was fought,” this is what Common Core reported. To be completely honest I haven’t the slightest idea as to when the Civil War was fought. Wouldn’t the more important question be, “What was the significance of the Civil War and what did it mean to Americans?” Students are taught to memorize who, where, and when because of the standardized tests. Rather than teaching students to think about the importance of events and novels, and the relevance that they have to their lives. This survey does no better job than tests for NCLB at gauging how much a student has learned. Either way this survey does a horrible job at proving that students aren’t learning the things they should know because it asks the exact same type of questions you’d find on the test.
On another completely different not, one of the survey questions had to do with Job from the Bible. Why on earth is a question about the Bible being asked to public school students? This pretty much destroys the validity of this survey.
Survey Finds Teenagers Ignorant on Basic History and Literature Questions
By Sam Dillon
27 February 2008
2 Comments
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March 13th, 2008 at 3:20 pm
Your blog is very interesting to me because I place great value on the arts in education. I was not personally an art student in high school, but many of my friends were. I was, however, very involved in Choir and Drama. To me, the fine arts in any form are essential to a well-rounded education.
I think many educators are put between a rock and a hard place thanks to NCLB legislation. Yes, there are in many cases the same number of class periods, but now schools are forced to allocate more periods to core classes just to keep their heads above water on the standardized tests. Also, some schools are switching to schedules that don’t allow for much in the way of electives. To top it all, there are new increased requirements for many classes such as Math, where four years must now be completed.
This may seem a little silly, but I can’t help but comment on the final remark about the question on Job. It is actually a perfectly valid question. The book of Job is an ancient work of literature and is the oldest book in the Bible (written somewhere in the period between 2700 and 2200 B.C.). At most it is taken to be divinely inspired writing by millions of Jews and Christians around the world. At the very least it is a great story that stresses the values of patience, trust, and loyalty.
I don’t mean to seem rude, but it is not fair to take anything to do with the Bible as invalid just because you may believe it to be fictional. This denies the very thing you profess to value; the very aspects of Art, History, and Literature that are so important to education. The very things that NCLB is trying to expel from the nation’s schools.
April 15th, 2008 at 1:25 pm
I could stand up and clap, that is if I knew you would see me standing and clapping. I love how things you will never EVER use in life are what we test students on. Like your Civil war example, I too have no idea when it was fought and could careless what the answer is. Why are these tests forcing students to memorize rather than learn?
This is off subject, but I am currently in a Genetics class at GVSU that I hated after the first two classes. The professor told us that if there was anything on the exam that required memorization, he would give us all bonus points. In all of my years of college (and trust me, I have plenty) this was the first professor that actually wanted me to LEARN the information rather than regurgitate it for a test. I compare this method of teaching with my anatomy professor. I love the class, don’t get me wrong, but EVERY exam is pretty much a memory game. I would tell people to avoid genetics at all costs until it finally hit me–this professor actually cares about the knowledge I gain. He wants to make sure I know the info rather than just memorized it. Its the first class in a long time that I feel I have paid gotten every cent worth.
As far as standardize testing goes–how is that an accurate test of what students know? Most students don’t eat breakfast before taking these tests–so they’re probably hungry and thinking about that. Most know the pressures of getting a high score and what it will effect down the road. Some could careless what a stupid bubble test says about their intelligence. Why force students to learn this information for one test? Shouldn’t we be teaching them for a lifetime, not for a test? As you can see, I kinda went on my own rant here. I enjoyed your post and felt the need to have my voice heard as well