Posted on 11/07/2006 12:15:26 AM PST by Antioch
Nine year-old Tyler Stoken, a student in the Aberdeen Public School District, didn't know how to answer an essay question on the Washington Assessment of Student Learning test. As punishment for leaving the question blank his principal suspended him for five days.
Tyler paraphrases the question saying, "You look out one day at school and see your principal flying by a window. In several paragraphs write what happens next." He's asked, "So why didn't you answer that question?" He says, "I couldn't think of what to write the essay without making fun of the principal."
He refused to answer the question even after his mother was called to the school. Tyler's mother Amy Wolfe says, "And he said he didn't know the answer. He just didn't know what to write. And they were telling me to make him answer the question."
He still didn't, so Tyler was given a 5-day suspension. In the letter that went home to mother, the principal writes, "The fact that Tyler chose to simply refuse to work on the WASL after many reasonable requests is none other than blatant defiance and insubordination." Shortly after receiving the suspension letter they received a phone call from Superintendent Marty Kay apologizing for the suspension.
"Because I think a mistake was made and over reacting to Tyler's refusal to complete the test," said Aberdeen school superintendent Marty Kay. ... The superintendent wants Tyler immediately re-instated at school. But Tyler’s mother says the damage has been done. Mom tells son, "Well, nobody will scream at you again. I promise you that." Tyler doesn't want to go to that school any more and you can't blame him. He was manipulated and then punished because he couldn't answer a test question.
WASL opponents also believe the principal and teachers broke the law by interfering with the WASL test. It had better have been a violation of the testing rules. If a teacher and principal browbeating a test taker into answering a question in any particular manner is not against the rules then the test is worse than useless.
Good for you! No child should be subjected to a public school indoctrination mill. The ongoing program of psychological profiling is reminiscent of the soviet school system in which children were turned into good little goose-stepping commies, snitching on their parents, hating freedom, rejecting God and worshipping Stalin.
Thanks for the links, but they're inactive.
Oh I am sorry to hear this.
He turned out just fine.Now a days they would want to put him on Ritalin.
He was being a boy and that is what boys do.;)
Did you say your son is in the Navy?
Give him an 'F' on the paper and move on
Yeah he is a graduate of the most difficult specialty it has, the Nuclear Power School, and is on the USS Ohio. His mom was beautiful and he (like his brother) inherited his mom's looks too.
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1281466/posts
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1287529/posts
You must be so proud of him.
I thank him for his service to our country.
If the principal were a male, I'd shove my forearm down his throat and rip out his lungs.
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1287529/posts
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1281466/posts
Nope you didn't miss anything.
You nailed it.
You know I had forgotten that there were some tests set up so that you were better off not answering than with answering incorrectly.
The problem is that the public school system has lost it's lack of credibility.
Why didn't the boy answer the question?
I have a daughter with brain damage (diagnosed with an MRI by a neurologist), and the public school system just did not help her. They were just in denial about some of her problems.
Her speech is so bad that no one can claim she speaks normally. However, I told them there was something wrong with her hearing because she always had to have us repeat things. For 3 years, they told me she was fine.
We told them she had a hard time writing or figuring out what to say. For 3 years, they told me that she was fine.
For about 2 years, I told them that she was having a hard time reading. They told me she was fine.
My daughter can take multiple choice tests, but falls about when having to write.
Last year, we finally had an independent evaluation done on my daughter by a neuropsychologist, a learning specialist and a speech therapist.
My daughter has auditory processing problems, and she has less than 1% on auditory memory. She can't remember things that are told to her, and that is why we have to repeat things to her.
She also has some reading problems with word decoding and phonemic awareness.
She also has lots of word finding problems. She can't pull out the correct word to say or write. This affects both her reading and her writing.
If my daughter was given something like this boy was given, I could see her freezing up and not knowing what to write. For example, my daughter did very well on a recent science test, even with essay questions. However, she knew what the questions were going to be about, and she studied beforehand. She also had a word bank of the vocabulary that was used for the tests (It was about organs, so she had words like Nervous System, ventricle, esophagus, in the word band). She did great on this test.
My daughter does worse on creative writing assignments. She literally cannot think of things to say.
Because my daughter does okay on the multiple choice standardized tests, the public schools will not provide any reading/writing help for her and we have placed her in a private school where she is getting the help she needs.
I wonder why this boy didn't answer the test.
Unfortunately, some parents cannot change the school.
School districts will not change kids to a different school just because a parent requests it.
Unfortunately, many parents cannot afford to send their kids to private school or to homeschool their kids. I know plenty of parents like that here in California.
My daughter cannot write creatively because of brain damage.
The boy should get the grade, but he should also be tested for dyslexia. Public schools will not test for dyslexia (except in a few states like Texas where it is mandated by state law).
Sad but kind of funny!
The problem is that this is a standardized test, and the scores will reflect on the school.
thanks!
Yes to all of your questions.
I cannot disagree with, or find and evidence contrary to your post.
I agree, though it doesn't look like his mother is considering the home schooling option. She's going to move him to another district & I'm sure this situation will get quite the write up in the boy's transcript. She should request a copy of the records the school is sending to her son's new school.
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