I agree with Shapiro's article. I have known for a while that I wanted
to be a teacher and so I paid pretty close attention to what was going
on in the public school environment while I was there. Toward the end
of my public school experience I was beginning to see the full effect
of the increasing standardized testing, and even more recently the
teacher accountability that goes along with the scores. It made school
seem like more of a business than that of a place of education.
Teachers are more increasingly being forced to teach to the test in
order to make sure that their students do a good job so they don’t lose
their job. This I feel is a bad move. This strips away the passion
from the profession. It forces us to help students memorize more so
than learn. We aren’t allowed to get students to think about the big
controversies within subject matter. We are only allowed to show them
what society accepts to be truth. This causes students to not think on their own, which is where I feel true learning lies, but it forces
them to compete with one another. We have to let schools be a place that encourages learning, instead of an office building. No real learning will occur until this happens.

Andrew, I agree with you. It is depressing and stressful that Teachers are having to basically "Teach the Test". That is not what school should be about. Our children deserve so much more! We are going to school to become educated Teachers so they need to let us TEACH not just teach the test! I'm an Assistant in a Second Greade Classroom and it is amazing what Second Graders are having to learn. The Math that these kids are having to do in Second Grade is ridiculous for little minds. I was talking to a Second Grade Teacher the other day and she was saying how she used to teach this same Math in Fourth Grade. Plus, next year they are bringing more of the 3rd Grade Math Curriculum down to Second Grade! All this because of the TEST!!! It's just not right!

I agree with you both. I also think it is inevitable that standardized test are going to continue being given. However, I think there needs to be a middle ground. Standardized test are a good source to begin evaluations of children, but only a beginning. Teachers have students in their classroom for the entire year, and therefore should be capable in determing whether or not a child is capable of performing at grade level. If teachers did not have to worry as much about teaching to the test they would be able to spend more time meeting the needs of all the students in their classroom.

Andrew, have you deserted teaching?

What are you planning to do?

I wonder about your comments about your father's impact on students and how that made an impact on you. I wonder if that source of inspiration is helping to see you through.

Rebekah Smith

I plan on being a high school biology teacher one day, but I worry about what I will have to teach so that my students can pass these tests. If I only stick to teaching the information that is necessay for them to pass tests, I feel that they will be missing material that is very important. Teaching biology requires a hands on teaching approach. The students should have to do lab experiments, and they should also be able to stay up-to-date with the new biological discoveries and experiments that are affecting our lives almost every day. If I spend my time lecturing everyday so that they can do well on a test, they won't be able to understand the importance that biology has for us. If they realize the importance of biology to their lives instead of just passing a test, they may be better able to appreciate biology, as well as other classes they have to take.

I'm an aspiring high school English teacher. People always ask me which grade level I prefer to teach, and I usually have to answer with a shrug of the shoulders because it's not a matter of which one I want to teach, but which one(s) I'll be placed with. However, I do always find myself answering that I ABSOLUTELY DO NOT want to teach tenth grade. Tenth grade consists of a state writing test. The students only read books required for the prompts of the test. I remember, as a tenth grader, having to read those books, discuss them, write numerous papers on them, and then remember everything for the test at the end of the semester. Our teacher wasn't free to let us read anything else. Granted, she did come up with fun and interesting ways for us to "discover" the novels and appreciate them. But I, as a teacher, am terrified of being restricted to a certain amount of books I can teach, AND, not to mention, how I can teach them. It's all about the test. So granted, though I might have more free-reign if I get placed with another grade, I'm still dreading having to teach for a standardized state test. I remember what it's like to hate absorbing everything for a test, and as a teacher, I know I'll hate lecturing and teaching for a test. But what can I do otherwise? It's a matter of being stuck between a rock and a hard place!

I also agree with everyone...the standardized tests in public schools are very negative forces. As teachers, it is important to help your children learn not only the basic facts/knowledge, but also, more impotantly, to teach them to think critically, improve their creativity, and question the way things currently are. How will our society improve if the upcoming generations simply accept our current situation? The United States has continued to change and develop over time and it is very important for us as teachers to continue this trend.
Increasing standardization leads only to the "search for prefigured 'right' answers and the capacity to regurgitate bits of information that are on someone else's list of what is intellectually correct." This piece of the text, taken directly out of the essay, is one of my favorite lines and had a big impact on me. I really liked the way that the author wrote, comparing the current situation to business, is very effective in my eyes. It really placed a whole new light on the situation for me.