Re: High Stakes Testing Opponents Hope to Sway

[Victor Steinbok <victor.steinbok@verizon.net>]

At 11:33 AM 2/27/2004, Ali M. wrote:
> I hope that everyone who attends this hearing gets to make themselves 
> heard and make sure that this doesn't get put into place. Why should kids 
> even bother with caring about their education if their hard work and high 
> attendance rate will mean nothing? Public school is starting to seem like 
> a mere waste of time for kids who want to learn and work for high acheivements.

As much as I sympathize with the "hard work" part and believe it should 
count for something, along with the actual academic record rather than some 
bs test, I cannot possibly support "attendance" as  meaningful determinant 
of progress. This cuts both ways--if the academic record is positive, why 
should anyone care if the kid was absent 10 days or 25 days? And if the kid 
is not cutting it, look for the reasons why this is happening--rewarding 
him *academically* for dutiful attendance is worthless.

        VS-)