OrganicAnn Posted September 15, 2010 Share Posted September 15, 2010 Another interesting article from NYT about education. I thought given the thread on Spelling, that it is interesting that giving quizzes went out of favor because they were afraid it would affect the kid's self-esteem. Also found her kids reaction to a school with no grading interesting. Anyway, I hadn't seen this posted yet and thought others would find it interesting. http://www.nytimes.com/2010/09/12/weekinreview/12rosenthal.html?_r=1&ref=education Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jean in Newcastle Posted September 15, 2010 Share Posted September 15, 2010 I don't know about Chinese education, but in Japan, they have a lot of tests too. It isn't quite the benign thing that this article seems to indicate since there is a higher suicide rate for even elementary age children in Japan. http://search.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/ed20070615a2.html Part of it is attributed to academic pressure. But again in Japan (which is the only Asian country that I know about), every single classroom for each grade in the entire country is on same lesson plan on the same day. There are a couple of different text books for the schools to choose from, but on day 23 of school in math class, then every 3rd grader in Japan is working on regrouping (for example). So when there are tests, they can easily be written to test what all the children in the country really have learned in a certain period of time. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Parrothead Posted September 15, 2010 Share Posted September 15, 2010 Constant testing will be useless unless the tests are created from the curriculum instead of the curriculum being created from the test (teaching to the test). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Caraway Posted September 15, 2010 Share Posted September 15, 2010 But again in Japan (which is the only Asian country that I know about), every single classroom for each grade in the entire country is on same lesson plan on the same day. There are a couple of different text books for the schools to choose from, but on day 23 of school in math class, then every 3rd grader in Japan is working on regrouping (for example). So when there are tests, they can easily be written to test what all the children in the country really have learned in a certain period of time. This is amazing to me... if only from an administrative stance. The sheer scope, and .... precision. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
missmoe Posted September 15, 2010 Share Posted September 15, 2010 I'm not sure how I feel about testing for young children. I think ideally young children should be in a class that is small enough that the teacher knows where each student is. But I know that isn't always possible. After looking at the title of the article, I thought I would learn something about schooling in Chinese schools. Not the case. The author is referring to an international school. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Word Nerd Posted September 15, 2010 Share Posted September 15, 2010 As usual, I'm with Alfie Kohn. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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