One in Five Charter Schools Is Bad Enough to Close

[JDPriestly]

19. There weren't any "standards" when I went to school.

Last edited Thu Nov 29, 2012, 04:28 PM - Edit history (1)

And there were even fewer when my mother went to her one-room country school.

People educate themselves if challenged by their parents and teachers with interesting problems to solve, good books to read and exciting stories and facts.

Testing, testing, testing, testing, testing is boring.

I would have flunked out of high school with today's curriculum.

You know what turned me on to school: a three-dimensional miniature of the Parthenon made by my sixth grade teacher, Mrs. Stahl, out of some strange concoction of flour, sugar, salt and whatever.

I was in sixth grade. I saw that model. We read a little about Greece and the birth of the idea of democracy, and at 10 years old, I decided that I was going to go and see the real thing one day.

It took a lot of work because my family had no money. I had to study hard, get good SAT scores, go to college, and finally, I found a way to go and see the Parthenon.

I had a goal, a goal I did not think I could ever attain. It was a childish goal, but I never lost sight of it.

When my husband and I actually reached Greece, visited Athens and saw the Parthenon, we spent days just sitting on the grounds, just contemplating the beauty of it, the idealism, the life, the history that has taken place there.

Tests do not turn kids on to learning. Ideas they can use in their lives, beauty they can enjoy and links to the past and future are the things that cause people to learn.

When I look at the buildings of my local schools, the little temporary classrooms -- dismal places with teachers who have no time for making models of the Parthenon or staying late to teach just that one talented, but poor kid how to play the violin, I think what a waste it is to spend money on tests and worry about scores. The tests and the scores have nothing to do with the real learning.

Oh, and because I was such a fan of the Parthenon so early on, I eventually went to the library and found a few books -- some story about Sisyphus, some about Oedipus Rex, great stories that I just picked up at random from the shelf because they had something to do with Greece, and I cared about Greece because my teacher, Mrs. Stahl, had cared about Greece.

Tests are useless. Scores are useless.

By the way, the grade school I attended has been turned into some sort of school for special education or something. It's great that all children are getting an education, but I wonder to what extent children end up in special ed quite simply because teachers are so busy teaching to the tests that they don't have time to make miniature Parthenons and the like.

Success is 90% perspiration and 10% inspiration, but without that 10% inspiration, there is no success.