tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2071009582607488366.post6335980174700597641..comments2023-05-27T20:46:17.511+10:00Comments on RealWorldMath Community: President Obama, what's next?Thomas Petrahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03787249381455769425noreply@blogger.comBlogger1125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2071009582607488366.post-87626748607870407362011-05-15T23:08:37.843+10:002011-05-15T23:08:37.843+10:00Nice post, Thomas. You're not alone, and nor ...Nice post, Thomas. You're not alone, and nor is this a problem specific to the US: there is a global groundswell of opinion in the same vein. We're all suffering from the actions of a generation (at least) of political thought which believes that it is possible to distil best practice into a series of simple and standardized 'How To' steps. That may be true in some jobs (although I question that too), but it certainly is not true for vocational callings like teaching. As you point out, the desire to identify bad teachers has led to the other 99% being subjected to a regime and a philosophy which undermines them and questions their expertise in the one area they are better-qualified to have an opinion than anyone else: a good teacher knows the whole student in a way that a single test performed on a single day can ever hope to portray. Yes, we need some tools for assessment, but the mania for standardized testing gives us useless information about the wrong things.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com