Teaching like Socrates: A Little History behind S.T.

The biggest problem with standardized testing is that it’s completely product based. There is only one answer to every question. A question that has multiple interpretations or answers does not exist in the limited world of standardized testing. Preparing a student for these tests limits his creativity, and sends the message that he doesn’t need creativity to be successful in life. It feels like society is turning schools into little factories (grade schools) which spits students out into big factories (universities) and ultimately creates millions of clones who think and act the exact same way.

I’m not implying that every aspect of school is product-based. We have all had rare classes where we were able to express ourselves through discussion. We have all had classes that didn’t require us to make and learn hundreds of flashcards. In my experience, it was the experience-based classroom settings which really stuck with me throughout the subsequent years of school.

While surfing through dozens of articles related to different aspects of standardized testing, I came across one from the Washington Post which addressed current teaching methods with the ones first developed by Socrates in ancient Greece. I didn’t even know Socrates was a teacher. Today, he would probably frown upon the current use of standardized testing. It turns out that his teaching methods have had a great deal of impact on the way students have been taught throughout history. For Socrates, the ideal teaching process was dialogue based, rather then product based.

“In ancient times, Socrates tested his students through conversations. Answers were not scored as right or wrong. They just led to more dialogue. Many intellectual elites in the 5th and 4th centuries B.C. cared more about finding the path to higher knowledge than producing a correct response. To them, accuracy was for shopkeepers… Critics say standardized testing has robbed schools of the creative clash of intellects that make Plato’s dialogues still absorbing. “There is a growing technology of testing that permits us now to do in nanoseconds things that we shouldn’t be doing at all,” said educational psychologist Gerald W. Bracey, research columnist for the Phi Delta Kappan education journal. “

Standardized testing began with simple essay exams, which were often sufficient until the 20^th century arrived. However, test distributors began looking for shortcuts in order to test in more sufficiently in different areas. Therefore in 1914 the first multiple choice tests arrived. Testers claimed that multiple choice tests evaluate individuals on their rate of learning rather then immediate knowledge. However, I think it is simply an opportunity for testers to evaluate individuals in a quicker fashion. Technology is rapidly making the nation increasingly lazy.

“Historians call the rise of testing an inevitable outgrowth of expanding technology. As goods and services are delivered with greater speed and in higher quantity and quality, education has been forced to pick up the pace.”

When thinking about the purpose of standardized testing, I often find myself wondering exactly when surface knowledge became more important then depth. I found that the SAT became the first big standardized test in the 1940s, and it has stuck with society ever sense, and even caused school districts to develop an array of standardized tests which students are now required to take.

“Many educators who value depth and rigor lament what followed. In 1926, the multiple-choice SAT was introduced as a much faster way of testing college applicants. On Dec. 7, 1941, several members of the board, during a previously scheduled lunch, decided that the outbreak of world war would require faster decisions and less leisurely testing. They eventually canceled the board’s old exam format. The SAT ruled.

Read Full Article

The (few) Benefits of Standardized Testing

If you have read my blog this far you’ll know that I am against standardized testing. However, every student has to take a few standardized tests at some point, and in some aspects, these tests can be very beneficial to students. While the ACT and SAT often earn students some very useful scholarships which can help them pay for a college which they normally would not be able to afford. The MEAP (in my opinion) is a much easier test. Students who pass the test were given up to $2,500 from the state of Michigan which could be used towards in-state college tuition. However, funding for the MEAP has been cut and is slowly being phased out. The three big tests for Michiganders include the MEAP, ACT and SAT. In my experience, the MEAP earned some money to help pay for my college. Because of this, it was the only test of the three which I found to be of any use. The ACT and SAT felt as though they were a waste of my money, but I needed the scores to get accepted into college. Which test is more useful? Which test is more difficult? According to an article found at Review Journal the SAT is a more difficult test, but it is also less often required then the ACT.

“The difference between what is being tested is often explained as, the SAT measures a students reasoning and aptitude whereas the ACT focuses more on the high school curriculum. ‘I recommend both because even though they test similar things some students do better on one than the other,’ Gilbert said. Most admissions offices take the higher score if the student has taken an exam multiple times. As for which is easiest, Gilbert said it depends on the individual. ‘Although the ACT has a science section, I still felt it was easier,’ said Las Vegas High senior Suzy Benito who has taken both the SAT and the ACT. There are differences in the way each test is set up. The SAT has no science reasoning portion whereas the ACT does. As the first admissions test, the SAT has been the most widely used test preferred by schools on the East and West coasts and the ACT was mainly required in the Midwest and southern states. However, now more and more colleges and universities are accepting either test, some requiring both.”

Money and financial benefits aside, the claim that these standardized tests are good interpreters of college accomplishment puzzles me. Analyzing scores on verbal sections of standardized tests seems as though it might not be a very accurate predictor of whether or not the student has decent verbal skills. What could be better way to test a student’s verbal skills then require him to write an essay?

“Often students have no idea what to expect or what the differences are between the two [ACT and SAT]. ‘Both are predictors of college success and rely heavily on math and verbal skills,’ said Las Vegas High School counselor John Gilbert. “The differences are more in the areas of the formatting and scoring system.”

Most of my college courses (especially those which pertain to my major) are discussion based courses. Memorization is a very small ingredient found within my courses because the basis of my studies regards interpretation.

Read Full Article