Comments on: Standardized Tests, An American Addiction

By: Principled Discovery » A more concrete objection to testing homeschools

Principled Discovery » A more concrete objection to testing homeschools — Mon, 05 May 2008 06:26:05 +0000

[...] one more old post for those of you who just love reading about psychometric testing: Standardized Testing: An American Addiction. This entry was written by Dana Hanley and posted on May 5, 2008 at 12:25 am and filed under [...]

By: Creativehsmom

Creativehsmom — Tue, 11 Jul 2006 17:15:00 +0000

Dana,
Again a great post! Some of what you shared reminds me of the writings of John Taylor Gatto. He warns of this often.
Cathy

By: Dana

Dana — Tue, 11 Jul 2006 06:16:00 +0000

Hey, Beth! Thanks for the link…yes, I agree wholeheartedly. Our education is turning into nothing but training for the workplace. Many see that as a good thing. But what happened to ideas freely shared and expressed? And liberty? The preservation of liberty was foremost in our education system’s founders’ minds. And that has all been reduced to vocational training?

By: beth

beth — Tue, 11 Jul 2006 04:47:00 +0000

Hi Dana~
This post reminded me of an article I read the other day, which I thought you may be interested in reading:
http://www.worldviewweekend.com/secure/cwnetwork/article.php?&ArticleID=822

By: Dana

Dana — Mon, 10 Jul 2006 15:42:00 +0000

It isn’t “strictly American” as mental testing is gaining ground internationally with increasing emphasis on test scores in every nation. But we have an obsession which is much older and much more entrenched. In fact, it appears that America is setting the trend in this area, as well. As the Yale psychologist notes, most societies also consider what a person actually does. We cast that aside in favor of what a test says a person should be doing.

The major exit exam in Germany, for example, is the Abitur. It is nothing like our SAT and could more easily be compared to the work I did on my honor’s thesis in college. We seem to be exporting our fixation on standardized testing…

Actually, another interesting point in the whole discussion is who gets tested. We are continuualy comparing ourselves to the international community…but we are one of the few nations who tests everybody. Germany only tests those in the Gymnasium (highest achieving school), Japan only tests students in its top performing schools, I’m not sure if anyone other than the US subjects their special ed departments to this testing.

By: Spunky

Spunky — Mon, 10 Jul 2006 15:33:00 +0000

Interesting line of thought here. However, I don’t see testing as a strictly American addicition. I haven’t studied every educational system out there, it seems that standardized tests are widely used around the world. Most just don’t seem to question these exams.

I am not opposed to examinations. However, I am opposed to state mandated testing for all students.