Fwd: Einstein and examinations

[Susan Harman <susanharman@igc.org>]

Begin forwarded message:

  From: Lynn Ellingwood <lellingw@rochester.rr.com>

  Subject: [Krashen] Einstein and examinations

  Date: Sun, 13 Jan 2008 22:21:34 -0500

  Nancy Flanagan wrote an interesting article, In

  Einstein’s Lap, published at

  http://www.teachermagazine.org/tm/articles/2008/01/09/16tln_flanagan_web.h19.html

  .

  She gives her reactions to a National Academy of

  Science meeting on “multiple measures of student

  achievement.”

  In the article, she wonders what Einstein would think

  of standardized tests. I posted the following:

  Ms. Flanagan wonders what Einstein would think of

  standardized tests. The following gives us some idea:

  . . I worked most of the time in the physical

  laboratory [at the Polytechnic Institute of Zürich],

  fascinated by the direct contact with experience … The

  hitch in this was, of course, the fact that one had to

  cram all this stuff into one's mind for the

  examinations, whether one liked it or not. This

  coercion had such a deterring effect [upon me] that,

  after I had passed the final examination, I found the

  consideration of any scientific problems distasteful

  to me for an entire year.

  It is … nothing short of a miracle that the modern

  methods of instruction have not yet entirely strangled

  the holy curiosity of inquiry; for this delicate

  little plant, aside from stimulation, stands mainly in

  need of freedom; without this it goes to wreck and

  ruin without fail. It is a very grave mistake to think

  that the enjoyment of seeing and searching can be

  promoted by means of coercion and a sense of duty. To

  the contrary, I believe it would be possible to rob

  even a healthy beast of prey of its voraciousness, if

  it were possible, with the aid of a whip, to force the

  beast to devour continuously, even when not hungry,

  especially if the food, handed out under such

  coercion, were to be selected accordingly.

  "Autobiographical Notes," in Albert Einstein:

  Philosopher-Scientist, Paul Schilpp, ed. (1951), pp.

  17-19 © 1951 by the Library of Living Philosophers,

  Inc.
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