Fwd: Another Testing Boycott

[Monty Neill <Mneillft@AOL.COM>]

--- Begin Message ---

• To: <mneillft@aol.com>, "Rich Gibson" <rgibson@pipline.com>
• Subject: Another Testing Boycott
• From: "Alfie Kohn" <akohn@shore.net>
• Date: Fri, 12 Feb 1999 11:06:58 -0500

Today's Issue
Back Issues













October 11, 1998




Schools returning to old factory model
WHAT IF THEY gave a war and nobody came?

What if they gave a standardized test and nobody wrote it?

Last week, I visited Dundas St. public school, in Toronto's South
Riverdale, where 95 per cent of the parents refused to let their children
write the second set of Grade 3 tests last spring. When the results come out
next week, these parents will be happy knowing that their outstanding primary
school will not be ``measured'' by antagonistic politicians.

The kids at Dundas St. are not the over-indulged wimps who, in the
irate and ill-informed fantasies of some columnists, ``play in the sandbox all
day instead of learning to read and write.''

These are the children of economically poor immigrants, and 60 per
cent of them don't speak English when they start kindergarten. And yet, thanks
to their superb school and dedicated teachers, these kids scored well above
average on the first round of compulsory standardized tests.

No, their parents had nothing to fear from the tests. But they'd
seen, the first time around, the colossal waste of $7 million of scarce
education dollars, the toll of three hours testing a day for two weeks, the
artificiality of stripping the walls of learning materials and forcing
teachers and children to work without questions or discussion. They thought it
was ridiculous to measure English as a second language students by native-born
standards of skill.

And they were disgusted when the Tories used the skewed test
results to bash the teachers and the schools in the middle of the Bill 160
teacher protest.

Dundas St., with its mixture of Vietnamese, Asian, black and
Iranian kids, is a place of shining purpose, calm, order, much happiness and
learning. Because the parents are intimately involved with the school, they
don't need tests to tell them how their kids are doing. They know. They bring
their toddlers to the parenting drop-in for games, songs and stories. They
talk with the teachers; they volunteer in class.

Along with grandparents and babysitters, they regularly join the
children for lunch in the sunlit atrium.

They bear out my own experience: The closer you are to children
and to their learning, the more intimately involved with their daily progress
and epiphanies, the less need you have for the simple-minded nostrums of
standardized testing.

How amazing it is to watch the dreadful impact of Harris's Common
Sense Revolution on our schools. With smaller schools forced to close, we're
retreating to the huge, factory-model institutions of the past, with their
top-down rules and centrally dictated curricula. Students are being streamed;
arts, music and libraries are being wiped out; day cares are being evicted.

We're losing the community-responsiveness and local control we
once fought so hard to win.

How did this backlash take hold? The schools evolved from an old,
patriarchal hierarchy of power. Gradually, under pressure from parents (mostly
mothers, since they were the ones involved on a daily basis) the schools
became more . . . dare one say . . . nurturing? Encouragement and individual
progress replaced rote learning. Parents were welcomed to participate.

Toronto was specially lucky: thanks to a humane local school
board, inner-city schools enjoyed extra funding to help disadvantaged kids
catch up. By dint of flexibility (remember Heritage Language programs, so
hated by the right wing?), Toronto was able to keep the world's most diverse
population engaged and hopeful, rather than angry and alienated.

The backlash was whipped up by media commentators, columnists,
reporters and editorialists who were part of the right-wing wave. Suddenly,
there was an impatient - almost infuriated - attack on ``child-centred
schools.'' Just by being responsive to children's needs, apparently, a school
could earn this contemptuous dismissal. You could almost hear these apoplectic
commentators bellowing: ``You'll eat your spinach because I say so!''

As loving parents everywhere know, this is not the most effective
way to communicate with a child, let alone stimulate critical thinking and
encourage intellectual growth.

The Tories cashed in on this backlash for their own ends: to
create cynicism about the schools in order to cut $1 billion from the system
without risking a parental revolt; smash the teacher unions to silence
informed opposition; and tighten central control by imposing strict
uniformity.

Remember the Tories' $1 million propaganda pamphlet last year?
It's a perfect illustration of their tactics. They reproduced a graph that
supposedly showed Ontario finishing last (after Singapore, Alberta and others)
in the 1996 Third International Mathematics and Science Study. The test was
warped to begin with - other countries chose only elite students to be tested.
But that's not all.

The Tories even fiddled with the graph, dropping off the 16
countries (including England, Scotland, United States and Denmark) that scored
lower than Ontario, just so they could falsely show Ontario coming last.

Would you buy a used car from politicians who lie so shamelessly
about your children and their schools?

Maybe next time the Tories impose their province-wide tests, a
tidal wave of parents will refuse to have their kids conscripted into what is
really a conservative political campaign.



--------------------------------------------------------------------

Last Sunday, a phone number was inadvertently dropped. To receive
a free program for Holocaust Education Week, call 635-2883, ext. 301.


--------------------------------------------------------------------

Michele Landsberg's column usually appears in The Star Saturday
and Sunday. Her E-mail address is mlandsb@thestar.ca


Are Raging Grannies a public enemy? Holocaust victim becomes
saint



SHORT STORY
CONTEST
RULES










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<TD align=middle><FONT face=helvetica,arial size=1><!--TODAY- October 11, 1998 -->October 11,
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size=5>Schools returning to old factory model</FONT>
<P><!--HEADLINE END--><!--IMAGE START--><!--IMAGE END--><!--SUBHEAD START--><!--SUBHEAD END--><!--STAFF IMAGE START--><IMG
align=right alt="[By Michele Landsberg]" border=0 height=175
src="/thestar/images/staff2/landsberg_m.jpeg" width=125><!--STAFF IMAGE END--><!--BYLINE START--><!--BYLINE END--><!--LEADIN START-->
WHAT IF THEY gave a war and nobody came?
<P>What if they gave a standardized test and nobody wrote it?
<P>Last week, I visited Dundas St. public school, in Toronto's South
Riverdale, where 95 per cent of the parents refused to let their
children write the second set of Grade 3 tests last spring. When the
results come out next week, these parents will be happy knowing that
their outstanding primary school will not be ``measured'' by
antagonistic politicians.
<P><!--LEADIN END-->The kids at Dundas St. are not the over-indulged
wimps who, in the irate and ill-informed fantasies of some
columnists, ``play in the sandbox all day instead of learning to
read and write.''
<P>These are the children of economically poor immigrants, and 60
per cent of them don't speak English when they start kindergarten.
And yet, thanks to their superb school and dedicated teachers, these
kids scored well above average on the first round of compulsory
standardized tests.
<P>No, their parents had nothing to fear from the tests. But they'd
seen, the first time around, the colossal waste of $7 million of
scarce education dollars, the toll of three hours testing a day for
two weeks, the artificiality of stripping the walls of learning
materials and forcing teachers and children to work without
questions or discussion. They thought it was ridiculous to measure
English as a second language students by native-born standards of
skill.
<P>And they were disgusted when the Tories used the skewed test
results to bash the teachers and the schools in the middle of the
Bill 160 teacher protest.
<P>Dundas St., with its mixture of Vietnamese, Asian, black and
Iranian kids, is a place of shining purpose, calm, order, much
happiness and learning. Because the parents are intimately involved
with the school, they don't need tests to tell them how their kids
are doing. They know. They bring their toddlers to the parenting
drop-in for games, songs and stories. They talk with the teachers;
they volunteer in class.
<P>Along with grandparents and babysitters, they regularly join the
children for lunch in the sunlit atrium.
<P>They bear out my own experience: The closer you are to children
and to their learning, the more intimately involved with their daily
progress and epiphanies, the less need you have for the
simple-minded nostrums of standardized testing.
<P>How amazing it is to watch the dreadful impact of Harris's Common
Sense Revolution on our schools. With smaller schools forced to
close, we're retreating to the huge, factory-model institutions of
the past, with their top-down rules and centrally dictated
curricula. Students are being streamed; arts, music and libraries
are being wiped out; day cares are being evicted.
<P>We're losing the community-responsiveness and local control we
once fought so hard to win.
<P>How did this backlash take hold? The schools evolved from an old,
patriarchal hierarchy of power. Gradually, under pressure from
parents (mostly mothers, since they were the ones involved on a
daily basis) the schools became more . . . dare one say . . .
nurturing? Encouragement and individual progress replaced rote
learning. Parents were welcomed to participate.
<P>Toronto was specially lucky: thanks to a humane local school
board, inner-city schools enjoyed extra funding to help
disadvantaged kids catch up. By dint of flexibility (remember
Heritage Language programs, so hated by the right wing?), Toronto
was able to keep the world's most diverse population engaged and
hopeful, rather than angry and alienated.
<P>The backlash was whipped up by media commentators, columnists,
reporters and editorialists who were part of the right-wing wave.
Suddenly, there was an impatient - almost infuriated - attack on
``child-centred schools.'' Just by being responsive to children's
needs, apparently, a school could earn this contemptuous dismissal.
You could almost hear these apoplectic commentators bellowing:
``You'll eat your spinach because I say so!''
<P>As loving parents everywhere know, this is not the most effective
way to communicate with a child, let alone stimulate critical
thinking and encourage intellectual growth.
<P>The Tories cashed in on this backlash for their own ends: to
create cynicism about the schools in order to cut $1 billion from
the system without risking a parental revolt; smash the teacher
unions to silence informed opposition; and tighten central control
by imposing strict uniformity.
<P>Remember the Tories' $1 million propaganda pamphlet last year?
It's a perfect illustration of their tactics. They reproduced a
graph that supposedly showed Ontario finishing last (after
Singapore, Alberta and others) in the 1996 Third International
Mathematics and Science Study. The test was warped to begin with -
other countries chose only elite students to be tested. But that's
not all.
<P>The Tories even fiddled with the graph, dropping off the 16
countries (including England, Scotland, United States and Denmark)
that scored lower than Ontario, just so they could falsely show
Ontario coming last.
<P>Would you buy a used car from politicians who lie so shamelessly
about your children and their schools?
<P>Maybe next time the Tories impose their province-wide tests, a
tidal wave of parents will refuse to have their kids conscripted
into what is really a conservative political campaign.
<P>
<HR width=150>
<BR>Last Sunday, a phone number was inadvertently dropped. To
receive a free program for Holocaust Education Week, call 635-2883,
ext. 301.
<P>
<HR width=150>
<BR><I>Michele Landsberg's column usually appears in The Star
Saturday and Sunday. Her E-mail address is <A
href="mailto:mlandsb@thestar.ca";>mlandsb@thestar.ca</A></I>
<P><!--CONTENT END-->
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Raging Grannies a public enemy?<!--NAVIGATION END-->
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