Something that I am having a hard time with this author is that, while his ideas make sense and should be brought to attention, much of his ideas seem very opinionated. For example, Wagner states, "Once again, I suspect that you may not be eligible for a high school diploma" (Wagner 89). This seems very opinionated to me. Where are his studies that show that adults out of high school do not possess the skills to pass the High school exit exams? Also, is it fair to assess adults who are not in a math class or haven't done math in 10 years, and compare it to high school students who have been in math classes for 10 years currently? Another opinionated statement I noticed was, "teaching to the test is not necessarily bad--if the test is a good test!" (Wagner 90). I love how Wagner is bringing light to the situation of achievement gap between rich and poor students. He is also challenging the conventions of teaching that we see as the norm. Does teaching math and science for 4 years create college ready and citizenship ready people? According to Wagner it doesn't. He argues that we need to reform education to teach students what employers are looking for and not students that can answer multiple choice tests. This I agree with, I just wish that Wagner wrote a little less opinionated and more factual.
This relates to my testing experience as a student pretty heavily. I remember being in high school and spending about a week doing the STAR./SAT testing. These were tests that did not affect our grades, but were important for the school to gauge its students and gain funding for various reasons. As a student, I did not really understand the importance of these tests for the school, and I think the same is true for students today. I remember having bubble races, where everyone would just go through the Scantrons and bubble in the answers as fast as they can to win. This is not too far off from where the students are now. They do not understand why the tests are important and why they should even try on them. I agree with Wagner that the tests may not be very important, or even relevant to the students' lives, which creates a discrepancy between what the students do and what we want them to do. If I could develop a school system, I honestly do not know what I would do. I think I would do something very similar to European countries. These countries push their students harder in class, and do not seem to baby them as much as American schools do. They also offer a shorter/easier school track for students who are not going in to college, and a harder/longer school track for college students. While this seems harsh, it actually gives a lot of freedom students. They are able to go to classes that they feel are actually relevant to their lives and careers. They can go to a two year trade school, a four year college, or just finish high school. This allows the students to actually do what they want to, and not be forced to go to classes that are not relevant to their lives.
This relates to my testing experience as a student pretty heavily. I remember being in high school and spending about a week doing the STAR./SAT testing. These were tests that did not affect our grades, but were important for the school to gauge its students and gain funding for various reasons. As a student, I did not really understand the importance of these tests for the school, and I think the same is true for students today. I remember having bubble races, where everyone would just go through the Scantrons and bubble in the answers as fast as they can to win. This is not too far off from where the students are now. They do not understand why the tests are important and why they should even try on them. I agree with Wagner that the tests may not be very important, or even relevant to the students' lives, which creates a discrepancy between what the students do and what we want them to do. If I could develop a school system, I honestly do not know what I would do. I think I would do something very similar to European countries. These countries push their students harder in class, and do not seem to baby them as much as American schools do. They also offer a shorter/easier school track for students who are not going in to college, and a harder/longer school track for college students. While this seems harsh, it actually gives a lot of freedom students. They are able to go to classes that they feel are actually relevant to their lives and careers. They can go to a two year trade school, a four year college, or just finish high school. This allows the students to actually do what they want to, and not be forced to go to classes that are not relevant to their lives.