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15 March 2005: Pop Quiz (5 of 5)
While I believe that assessment discrepancy is an important factor affecting public schools, I have one other question I have to ask about this quiz: Who gives a damn? Really, I mean, who cares?
I can't imagine a circumstance where knowledge of these facts will ensure success on anything, aside from this quiz.
Yet, the teacher gave the quiz, and the students took the quiz. Not only that, but the outcome of the quiz will affect the teacher's evaluation of the students, and then the students' evaluations of themselves!
I'm not saying that it's not very important to have a good understanding of the history of our country and our world. Nor am I arguing that students of history should not have to have recall of significant dates and statistics. The point I'm trying to make is that this activity is in no way assessing whether students have a good understanding of anything, nor would I consider these facts to be significant.
In the end, though, who is to blame? The teacher gave the test, but the state mandated a different content than is taught by the district-mandated curriculum or the privately administered assessment. No wonder there's a discrepancy.
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