Re: high-stakes testing has real shock value, so when do we stop pressing the button

[Brian LeCloux <neaguy@hotmail.com>]

Monty,In another version of the experiment Milgram found that when two other "teachers" were in the room and both objected to the procedure of shocking the "learner" for incorrect responses, only 4 were willing to go all the way to the 450 volt level in obeying the authority figure. Brian

 






 > Date: Tue, 17 Jan 2012 22:23:40 -0500
> From: monty@fairtest.org
> To: arn-l@interversity.org; arn2-strategy@yahoogroups.com; ARN-state@yahoogroups.com; epata@interversity.org; ndsgroup@yahoogroups.com
> Subject: [arn-l] high-stakes testing has real shock value, so when do we stop pressing the button
> 
> Morna McDermott writes fine columns for the Baltimore Education Reform 
> Examiner. On Dec 31, she posted this:
> 
> http://www.examiner.com/education-reform-in-baltimore/high-stakes-testing-has-real-shock-value-so-when-do-we-stop-pressing-the-button
> 
> She asks why do teachers go along with high-stakes testing, and looks to 
> Stanley Milgram's famous study in which "teachers" (regular folks) 
> administered electric shocks (not really, but heard taped cries and 
> screams) to 'students' (who were not students). Two-thirds kept on 
> administering shocks as the 'dose' increased; when 'teachers' expressed 
> concern, they were prodded to continue.
> 
> Milgram wrote:
> 
> /  The legal and philosophic aspects of obedience 
> <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Obedience> //are of enormous importance, 
> but they say very little about how most people behave in concrete 
> situations ... Stark authority was pitted against the subjects' 
> [participants'] strongest moral imperatives against hurting others, and, 
> with the subjects' [participants'] ears ringing with the screams of the 
> victims, authority won more often than not. The extreme willingness of 
> adults to go to almost any lengths on the command of an authority 
> constitutes the chief finding of the study and the fact most urgently 
> demanding explanation/.
> 
> Morna draws lessons from this about the difficulty of resisting 
> authority, and the necessity to do so in the face of the damage caused 
> by the testing regime. As we well know, at times people do rise up and 
> resist authority. This needs to be such a time.
> 
> Monty
> -- 
> Monty Neill, Ed.D.; Executive Director, FairTest; P.O. Box 300204, 
> Jamaica Plain, MA 02130; 617-477-9792; http://www.fairtest.org; Donate 
> to FairTest: https://secure.entango.com/donate/MnrXjT8MQqk
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