Tuesday, May 22, 2007

Fallacious anti-testing arguments

Joanne Jacobs quotes Right on the Left Coast: Views From a Conservative Teacher on objections to a driver test. Seen this way, the case made by the anti-testing crowd evaporates into thin air.

I am completely against this new testing regime for the following reasons:

1. It stifles the creativity of drivers.
2. It's not testing the "whole driver".
3. There's plenty that goes into driving that can't be evaluated by a machine.
4. This is just "drill and kill"--why aren't they testing critical thinking skills, which the research shows is more important to driving than merely being able to see?
5. This is a one-size-fits-all, high stakes test.
6. Why should we test, anyway? Testing doesn't make anyone a better driver.


This is all very funny when applied to a driver test. But these are the exact same arguments the anti-testing crowd applies to academic subjetcs.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

I never thought of testing that way before. I do feel that we test kids to death these days -- I do not think it is all beneficial, especially when the teachers are basically not supposed to teach to the test. For me, the idea is not so much that we should not test, but I do not believe we should test too early and too much (as in 2nd/3rd grade, 2-3 state tests per year). However, it could be that some districts are making the testing regime more manageable. Anyway -- I liked the approach you gave the issue.

Darren said...

And *I* appreciate the link!