Otoki said:
I'll have more to say on this when I'm awake, but I am nervous about basing a student's graduation/early move to college purely on standardized tests.
Correct me if I'm wrong but I think No Child Left Behind requires standardized tests to graduate. I think I had to take some sort of standardized test in 11th grade (which was about 10 years ago) but I can't remember if my graduation depended on it or not.
True, however MN has PSEO, where HS students can attend college for free, earning both college and HS credit. They can later transfer some or all of said college credits, or simply continue to attend the college as a college student and graduate sooner, with less money spent. I did this, but am a super-senior, so i didn't really save any money
Also, NCLB is a fucking disaster that has already fucked up our schools. I don't see why we should emulate the standardized testing BS system if we're trying to save money.
Besides, I feel that schools should get more funding in order to increase the quality of education (and lower the student-teacher ratio).
dholokov said:
But no matter how cheap community college is, it's still going to be a lot more expensive than high school.
It will be more expensive for the individual, but the state would save money on two more years of high school which it could in turn pass on in the form of tuition assistance to the early graduate. Even if that wasn't the case the state is saving money in the long run and if the individual is planning on going to college anyways it makes sense to let them go early if they prove that they are capable.
Agreed. However, I am still leery of SOLELY considering test scores for graduation. I think grades should be taken into consideration as well.
Keith said:
Sounds exactly like how most of the rest of the world has been doing it for years. Europe, Japan, etc.
For the record, I feel that Japanese education before college is woefully lacking in discussions, textual analysis (beyond the "single correct answer" structure), and other types of less-structured thinking. I would have failed school if I continued to live in Japan.
I also wonder about early-graduates' math and writing skills. I've peer-edited papers in freshman classes and some of the writing is fucking atrocious. I think public schools in general need to up the ante and push our students more, but we need to temper that with smaller class sizes so students can access help from their teacher when they need it.
Otoki
SUICIDEGIRL
Minnesota, USA
NOV 11, 2008 12:02 AM