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.
"Actually the problem with public education is mainly parents who don't give a damn. In the big cities the Welfare Class has destroyed public education."
I'll agree the welfare class is a huge dysfunctional socialist creation. I don't agree that the problems are mainly parents that don't give a damn. Sure some don't but others care deeply which is why PTA and such programs exist and flourish in many areas. Its also why homeschooling and private school is growing each and every year. Many good parents care about their children and have given up on the socialist education system.
About 4 years ago i read an article about the Los Ang school system laying off 2 teachers to provide funds so they could study why they didnt have enough teachers. To me that was symbolic of what the problem is.
Thank you.
Most kids, after taking a test, get the grade back and pay no attention at all to their mistakes. This teacher is trying to get the kids to pay attention to mistakes they have made and to focus, once more, on what the correct answer is. Yes, it does inflate the grade. I think I would confine this activity to worksheets (weighted less than exams) and let the exam show what they really know.
I actually had this assignment in an education class. At least in an ed class, they can presume that you will adopt the qualities of your favorite teacher, and see what type of teacher you might be. It bites you in the ass either way.
I didn't have a favorite teacher either. I did have one teacher who, because of the situation, provided me with a lot of material (we had a Taiwanese student who spoke no English and no one spoke Taiwanese). I embellished A LOT.
The papers were returned, I was asked to read my paper aloud, and because this teacher was SO exceptional, discuss her teaching methods. It was a nightmare.
My God...what an arrogant, pompous bureaucrat. The jerk needs to be brought down a notch by the School Committee.
My kid has Asperger's syndrome aand would totally freak at such a question on a test...his reasoning would be the same as that kid's..."I couldn't write anything that they would like to hear so I can't write it"
And no amount of threats, punishment, pleading or begging would get him to do it unless I worked with him to find an angle on that assignment that would not be a threat to him personally!
My problem is that at that age, I would have had an answer and I'd have been suspended anyway! (I was about his age when I discovered Monty Python's Flying Circus.)
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Why on Earth does a student need to be able to answer such a question? The schoolwork assigned is so boring and foolish, it makes you question the value of a public education-and rightly so.
The truth is, the only lesson that school teaches consistantly is to wait for someone to tell you what to do. Parents should not use them.
My son did have a least favorite teacher, but he wasn't smart enough to figure to say that he didn't have a favorite teacheer he had a least favorite and write about her. It would have been a very colorful descriptive paragraph if he wrote about his least favorite.
I hear you. My daughter with brain damage would not have been able to write that paragraph either.
The system you want to change happens to be the financial arm of the DNC...fat chance changing that unless you manage to make the DNC illegal.
The English curriculum we used for those grades while homeschooling (Rod & Staff) did exactly that. I think it really helped a lot.
I hated writing essays like the one that kid was given. I just cannot think of something to think when put on the spot like that, especially with the pressure of a test. The ridiculous thing is, they wanted several paragraphs, not just a few sentences; out of a third grader no less.
My oldest daughter is really smart but a total geek. She HATES writing stuff like that and when she does, writes way below what one would expect of her. She recognises it and is trying to deal with it in college. Her comment was, "Put a lab report or computer program in front of me and I'll do fine." And she does. She's a computer science major and loves it. I told her that when she's done with that, she won't need to deal with it any more. It's not something that one uses in real life.
Not all kids are cut out of the same cloth. Why should they be so hard on kids who don't do well at *creative writing* (which is only done in school and I'm beginning to suspect it's main purpose is to give English teachers something to do) and yet be soooo understanding when kids aren't good in Math and Science, which ARE used much more in everyday life?
I have a degree in Computer Science, and I understand her pain in writing.
I had a teacher in high school tell me that she had to give me an A on my term paper because it was well-organized and had lots of facts. However, she said my writing style was very simple, and I wouldn't pass English in college if I continued to write like that.
The thing is that I ended up gettings As and Bs in English in college. In college, they were more interested in how it was organized and the facts that I used.
Grading writing is soooo subjective. My son's English teacher is a terrible writer. The kids gave their AP US History teacher a copy os something she handed out to them and asked him to grade it. He took one look at it, read the first couple sentences, and asked them what it was she expected them to do. They told him they weren't sure either.
If you believe homeschooling is a victory there is not much to say. It is far from it but rather a cessation of the public arena to the enemy.
"If you believe homeschooling is a victory there is not much to say. It is far from it but rather a cessation of the public arena to the enemy."
Its a victory for my kids. Right now thats enough for me as I don't propose to sacrafice them at the alter of a socialist idol.
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