Testing for Intelligence?

                                                     

                                                         Testing for Intelligence?

Here in the state of Washington, we used to have the WASL, now they have taken this testing and named it MSP which is given to middle school's and the HSPE which is for the high school's, not to mention other testing the high schools have to give to students for them to pass in order to graduate.  I still remember comments from my sons' teachers when the WASL was around, how stressful it was at times for the children as well as for the teachers. First, the child is getting taught to the test. Second the teacher is being pushed to teach the material in a certain way cutting off her or his possibilities for incorporating their teaching styles nevertheless learning about their students ways of learning. The main idea as we know is that students get pushed so hard to pass the test because not only benefits the teachers scores but the school gets money from the government.  I am not to keen about testing children for these purposes, what happens with the children that have fallen behind through the years?, what happens to those that need special help of maybe learn things in a different way?, what about assessing children and use that information to learn about each one of them, learn other ways to teach them and be successful? On the other hand, I think that teachers should also be assessed, do they have the passion and dedication to their students or is it just a job for them? I have known too many teachers between my children and I can tell you which ones are the ones who are so dedicated to their children and love their job with the ones that do not have that drive to make their learning experience interesting, very monotone. As Berger mentions in the textbook with regards of intelligence that children can inherit many different abilities some might be high and some low (2012). So why not harvest their minds by learning their styles of learning, for teacher to observe and re-plan their ways of teaching in order to serve to their full potential and abilities.

Testing children in other parts of the world 

I found this article that caught my attention because the study was made with Peruvian children. Children that live in poverty and those who do not, children who live in the city but have migrated from the highlands and maybe go or not go to school. Their finding stated that children who live in poverty for the most part do not attend school rather they go to work so they can help their families(Stevenson, 1989). There was this comparison they did which reminded me a lot when I was going to school over there and that is the cost of school supplies. Many of the schools are not well equipped specially public schools where are the private ones are. Many families can not afford to pay monthly fees for their children to attend school. I remember my mom having to work two jobs in order for me to attend a private school. Education is different in that aspect, in public school there is a problem often with teachers going on strike because they don't get paid therefore children fall behind, etc. On the other hand there are those schools that do very well. Teachers, parents and students must come together and work building a partnership which can benefit not only the children but their future educational system as well.

References

Berger, K. S. (2012). The developing person through childhood (6th ed.). New York, NY: Worth Publishers.

Stevenson, H., W. (1989). Schooling and achievement: A study of Peruvian children. Retrived from deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/.../1/0000686.pdf