Tuesday, January 26, 2010

Great educational essay--Why Standardize? Nobody's asking that....

This article makes a good point. What benefit is there in Standardizing education?

Parents of both gifted and Autism spectrum kids have been saying this for a long time: wouldn't it be better to teach to a child's talents and prepare them to function in their best capacity in the world? Why do we insist that every child be a polymath. In reality, the Leonardo Da Vinci's of the world are few and far between, and it's an unrealistic goal to educate all children to be that.

This article points out that what we create is an educational sham--a "fake" education that is dumbed down rather than making all kids qualified in all areas.

While I do believe that there is a body of knowledge that all students should have been exposed to (partially in order to give them the most opportunities to discover and develop their talents!), I don't think expertise in every area is a worthy or realistic goal for most people. And it gives kids a false expectation of human achievement, ability, and possibility.

http://www.edweek.org/ew/articles/2010/01/14/17noddings-comm.h29.html?intc=mvs

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