Obama says too much testing makes education boring

[ELVIS]

WASHINGTON – President Barack Obama said Monday that students should take fewer standardized tests and school performance should be measured in other ways. Too much testing makes education boring for kids, he said.

"Too often what we have been doing is using these tests to punish students," the president told students and parents at a town hall hosted by the Univision Spanish-language television network at Bell Multicultural High School in Washington, D.C.

Obama, who is pushing a rewrite of the nation's education law that would ease some of its rigid measurement tools, said policymakers should find a test that "everybody agrees makes sense" and administer it in less pressure-packed atmospheres, potentially every few years instead of annually.

At the same time, Obama said, schools should be judged on criteria other than student test performance, including attendance rate.


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[sadaist]

Obama said, schools should be judged on criteria other than student test performance, including attendance rate.

Yea great. Ryan Leaf showed up to every Chargers game while we had him. Perfect attendance. Look where that got us.

Obama just wants all the youth of America to skate by on simply being "present" like he has done.

[sadaist]

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Why? Is there going to be a test? Isn't me just showing up in the thread enough for you?

[Seshmeister]

Obama just wants all the youth of America to skate by on simply being "present" like he has done.

He is many things but you can't accuse him of being an educational underachiever.

[Blaze]

Attendance is over-rated.
If I can pass the tests, why should I have to show up?

[Unchainme]

Those fucking standerized tests were the easiest shit in the world to take...

[kwame k]

Those fucking standerized tests were the easiest shit in the world to take...

For me, too! I think I may have studied for about 8 or 9 tests in the last 3 years of High School and still graduated with a 3.5 GPA.....had I not fucked around my Senior year I could of kept a 4.0. Kept a 4.0 in college, except for Typing and Business English, too. Multiple choice tests are by far the easiest test to take and it takes two seconds to figure out two of the four answers are so far off that you can discard them immediately, leaving you with a 50/50 chance right out of the gate.......out of those two one is usually confusingly similar to the other.

They have know for years standardized tests don't show if a person really understands the subject they are being tested for......No Child Left Behind is working out so good we don't need an overhaul of the public education system......Oh wait! That would be Socialism if the government stepped in and took over public education, wouldn't it

[ELVIS]

The government took over education more than 100 years ago...

[kwame k]

Wow, that may be why they call it Public School!

[Nitro Express]

It's called every child left with no mind. They don't teach critical thinking anymore. Basically teachers use to teach the basic skill set and leave it up to the students to take what they had learned and put the puzzle together. Then at the end of that the teacher would point out what was done right and was wrong. They used to ask you what you thought about such and such and then have you defend your position. Now it's cut and paste.

They want people just barely skilled enough to to the work but too stupid to figure out they are being royally screwed by the system. The biggest fear of a corrupt government is a well educated and informed public that think for themselves.

[Anonymous]

African-american got a point.

Even if you're IQ - yes - is above average & you learn stuff faster & better than anyone else, that shouldn't be the only thing that counts. What's the use of breezing through all tests put in front of your face if you're not taught a bit of discipline & consideration, two things that have all but disappeared from our society?

You'll end up as another lazy ass genius who doesn't give a fuck about anything & gets stuck with a dead end, menial job because you never did learn how to make an effort.

So, all tests make school hard for dumb people & don't help smart people none.

There really should be other ways to grade your performance in life.

Cheers! :bottle:

[Nitro Express]

I always liked the education system in Germany better than ours. They get the kids thinking about their career path early and if you are the mechanical type, you can study that at the high school level. One mechanic told me they had high school student apprentices working at BMW learning the trade in the real world. Then if they want they can go onto a higher education and become an engineer.

Here education is too blind. It's just a dumb game you have to play. I took honors level classes in high school and was bored my senior year just waiting for the graduation clock to run out so I could get on with my life. We dealt with our boredom with lots of drinking. The German system makes you think about a real long-term career goal early and then customs fits itself to that goal. They have specialized high schools and higher education is basically specialized training on top of a very good basic education you got at the high school level.

[Anonymous]

The government took over education more than 100 years ago...

Shirley you jest.

Cheers! :bottle:

[Nitro Express]

Anyways, I have heard the same improve the educational system shit from every president since Nixon and they just spend more money and meddle with the local school districts more. Nothing ever improves but the ever increasing amount of money spent on education makes the salesmen and administrators very rich. Education in the US is a more corrupt business than healthcare and that is saying something. Education has had higher price inflation levels than health care. We spend far more than other industrialized nations on education per student and have nothing to show for it. It's just another fine example of good old US corruption.

[Nitro Express]

As far as Obama goes. Fuck the banker cock sucking pet worm. The only thing Obama is good at is making trillions of dollars disappear.