My Kids, Smart or Dumb?….
Posted by Pete | Posted in News | Posted on 13-12-2013
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Are my children smart or dumb? Well, some parents are saying I don’t really know, but I don’t want you and the state to know either. So, they want and are trying to have the right to opt out on standard testing of their children. I guess that’s ok, but at some point folks, you folks are gonna need to know. A kid has to be educated enough to hold his own out in the world. Makes you feel like these parent know or suspect the child has learning problems from the get-go or they would not be opposed to testing….Would they?…. Oh, what the heck, maybe I’m missing something….I probably would have faired better without testing, probably convincing others I’m a dad blamed genius….Well, maybe not….But good or bad folks, you need to know about that child. I mean, really…..Pete
Just let all kids be smart or dumb as they were born. Too much testing categorizes kids giving a few gifted kids extraordinary opportunities with the financial rewards that go along with it, but it also limits the ability of the vast majority of kids to break out of the artificial mold in which too much testing placed them in the first place. There is no such thing as a perfect test. All tests will always have their failings. It will always pay, in the interest of the best results, to keep testing limited, although it is recognized that there will always be a need for some testing to measure the ability of a person to do the required work and to measure progress.
The prime characteristic of the communistic educational systems of Lenin and Stalin was required testing of all kids at a very young age which categorized them and separated the geniuses from the ordinary people (the workers and the fighters). Once categorized, it became impossible for a particularly bright kid wrongly categorized to break out of the mold and achieve higher goals. The major failing of our own educational system today is that administrators and teachers, as well as the government, have lost sight of enabling kids to achieve the highest goals in which their inherent abilities will allow in favor of a mass education requirement insuring an equal education for all. Once an equal education for all mentality is institutionized, then it becomes impossible to provide individual kids the opportunity to excel each according to his or her abilities.
so, test some, some of the time or test some, all of the time, or test some, none of the time and test some most of the time….I got ya……
Sorry! You do not get me. I never said to test some, all of the time or all some of the time. I said that everyone must be tested in some fashion, but everyone must not be subject to the same standardized test because everyone is different, with different abilities, different goals, differenct ambitions, and , most importantly, different likes. In most cases, it is the test that is the problem, as well as narrow minded, power hungry, money grubbing educational administrators who attempt to devise a test to fit everyone in the entirety of God’s beautiful and complex Creation. This is impossible except perhaps for God. It is impossible for educational administrators and politicians, even when backed by the most powerful labor unions. Again, give kids the opportunity to make up their own minds, with the guidance of parents, family, pastors, teachers, chancellors, and friends; and let them have the freedom to have their fun when they are young (everyone can be a kid only once); but give them the opportunity to break out of the mold that their bad decisions placed them in when they were young so that they will have the opportunity to compete with the best and brightest of God’s beautiful and complex Creation when they find that they have the ability and brains to do so. Let’s have an educational establishment that works with the kids to give them opportunities while protecting their freedom to be kids. All of us can be a kid only once. The remainder of life consists of looking back to those beautiful days of childhood and adolescence which no one wishes to return to but which everyone wants to live through again.
What I said in the original posting was that everyone should be tested at some point to determine how dumb or smart they are…..
My parental units were pretty lenient about my grades. I sometimes got a B, but it would always be in math, and they understand that math’s just not my thing. But when I got to high school, I was given the choice that if I agreed to be in a magnet program focusing on primarily math and science, then I could do marching band. I thought that since I got accepted into the program, I might be okay, even though the math would be pretty bad. Plus, I really love band, and music is my passion. But since I’ve been in this program, I keep getting compared more and more to other Asian kids, all of whom are better than me academically. I’ve always been an “average” smart kid: mostly straight A’s in advanced classes; nothing really special. But now, every time I complain or protest about how hard school is for me, I get yelled at about how this is for my own good and that I’ll have to stick with it if I want to get into a decent college. They’ve told me multiple times how I’ll probably never graduate from high school; why should I bother with college? And now, I’m going to be taken out of band unless I get straight A’s, but classes like AP Comp Sci and math are hell for me. It just frustrates me how I was promised band in exchange for being in a magnet program, but now I can’t do band and I’m still forced to be a “magnet”. Also, my parents have been putting me down more often lately, saying how I dress like I got my clothes out of a Dumpster and how I’m fat, etc. Every time I look into a mirror, all I see are my faults. I mean, I know they’re better than a lot of Asian parents, but they don’t respect who I am, and they want to change me into someone I’m not to make them happy. And now, as my freshman year comes to an end and finals and AP exams are approaching, I’ve come to the conclusion that I’m screwed. Sorry for this huge, long rant. I’m just really ticked.
Manuela, first I want to thank you for writing. It is good to get some things off you chest from time to time. I think your parents are a little too demanding in the straight A thing. And maybe, if you tell them, ok, I’ll try harder on the clothes thing if you will ease up on the straight A, no music thing. One other thing, I don’t know your parents, however, I feel if you will set down with them and discuss the issues, just like you did in your comments to me, they will listen. If they do not I will be very disappointed with them. Let me know, Manuela, because I had 5 children and I was tickled to death when they passed a class and while they were good students, none were straight A’s. Your parents really just want to get the best out of you and sometimes us parents can go overboard. I wish you the best of luck and Merry Christmas….Pete Hester….ps I love music also..