Kozol, Chapter 5 & 6

“The debates about standardized examinations have been raging in this nation for several years.”  (Kozol, 109)

      Really, I did not see this coming.

      Of course standardized testing is a highly debated topic.  Teachers are being forced to drill examples into the students.  Most curriculums appear to revolve around preparation for the standardized tests.  Teachers are no longer given the freedom to teach the topic as they wish.  It is upsetting to see that most education revolves around standardized tests, which really are not an accurate method of assessment.

“A kindergarten teacher said she thought her job was to make children love to come to school.” (Kozol, 115)

      Yes her job is to rope children into going to school so that they could be tested… day in and day out.

      This quote was talking about a teacher’s feeling about giving standardized tests to kindergarten students.  I don’t remember taking a standardized test until I was in 2^nd grade (1997); and, this test was given for one week in October or November, thus not much prep time.  The great number of standardized tests is going to start turning students away from education and they’ll end up on the streets.

      On the other hand, maybe it’s good to start testing students in kindergarten.  Students will get used to standardized testing from the get go and know what they will have to face every year for the next 12+ years.

“The banishment of recess from the normal school day is perhaps the ultimate penurious denial.” (Kozol, 120)

      No recess?!?!?!  This is inhumane!  I realize it is important for students to do well in school, but they also need a chance for physical activity too.  If there were no recess, the students would be bored because of all of the testing that probably replaced recess.  I recall watching and episode of Disney’s Recess in which they did this.  The episode started in bright color, and faded to dull color (almost black and white).  The students became robot like when they took a test every day; initially, the test scores were up but they went down the longer amount of time they went without recess.  By the end recess was reinstated and test scores went back up.  This proves that the removal of recess may not be as successful as administrators may think.

“Even before this new phenomenon had been observed, many of the better elementary schools in major cities like New York already had in place admissions policies that clearly favored children of the ‘savvy parents,’ as the press in New York City frequently describes well-educated and well-connected people.” (Kozol, 135)

      How are the unconnected and uneducated people going to get an education?  It is sad that school systems deny students education because they don’t know anyone. 

“Most of the children in the neighborhood have ended up at one of the large and low-performing high schools in the Bronx.” (Kozol, 142)

      ‘Large’ and ‘Low-performing’ don’t go together.  The combination of these status usually show downfall in a school.  Low performing schools are not good to have no matter what the size.  These schools typically receive poor score on standardized tests which is caused by student’s lack of knowledge.  Large, low-performing schools are worse because this means that there is a greater number of students who are not performing up to standards and the school is responsible for getting them to the standards.

“The second elementary school I visited was cordoned off by signs that read ‘RESTRICTED AREA’ and ‘DANGER.’” (Kozol, 153)

      This is not good for a school.  How is the school supposed to issue all of the required standardized tests?

      Come to find out, the school Kozol wrote about was partially condemned already because the roof started collapsing and such.  Classes we combine in a section of the school that was still usable.  This means that classes were 2 or 3 times as large.  How is a student supposed to learn in these types of conditions?  The ratio of students to teachers needs to be minimal to give every student a chance at an equal education.