Filed under: Uncategorized
“Believing we can improve schooling with more tests is like believing you can make yourself grow taller by measuring your height.” Robert Schaeffer of FairTest
Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: ACT, advanced placement, getting into college, private education, public education, SAT, standardized education
Nothing from my psychology 101 class has stuck with me more than Psychologist Howard Gardner’s theory of the Seven Types of Intelligences. They are:
Linguistic
Logical-Mathematical
Bodily-Kinesthetic
Spatial
Musical
Interpersonal
Intrapersonal
These intelligences essentially determine how we learn, what interests us and what we are inherently good at. However, according to our government, many parents, and some educators, only the first two actually count. I suppose you could say that the purpose of advanced placement programs along and standardized testing in general determine whether or not children are “intelligent” by government standards, allowing them to pick out and ship off the few who may significantly contribute to society with their “incredible” verbal and mathematical skills in the eyes of our educational system. Try explaining that logic to Mozart (musical), Bob Fosse (bodily-kinesthetic), Van Gogh (spatial), or Oprah Winfrey (intrapersonal).
Shouldn’t kids be allowed to learn together so they can understand one another’s intellectual differences, rather than segregating them? Who’s best interest are we keeping in mind?
