In my state, they proposed a list of words that can no longer be used in public school classrooms. To align the tests to the new mandate, there is also a proposal to remove those words from any of the tests taken to evaluate the students at the end of the year. So the goal, apparently, is for children to not even be able to define the words.
In schools nationally, kids can take advanced physics classes and never get an intro to quantum theory, or even special or general relativity. Why? It's not on the tests at the end of the year and the teachers run short of time. So preference is given to the content that the students will be tested on.
And on and on and on.
We could all give a million examples I'm sure. But the hard part is what to do about it?
After 8 years in a public school, I've decided enough is enough. I've attended numerous school board meetings. Written to teachers. Given generously to the teacher funds. Voted. Nothing works. So we've saved up some money. We'll be putting our kid in a private school starting next Fall. It's hard, yes. It's hard on him - he's going to miss his buddies. It's hard on us - $40000 per year for high school, thanks America! I honestly don't know what else to do. There's a second private school in the area that charges $65000 per year, so perhaps I should console myself that I'm being responsible by saving $25000 per year.
In schools nationally, kids can take advanced physics classes and never get an intro to quantum theory, or even special or general relativity. Why? It's not on the tests at the end of the year and the teachers run short of time. So preference is given to the content that the students will be tested on.
And on and on and on.
We could all give a million examples I'm sure. But the hard part is what to do about it?