Basically, I believe students should not be expected to achieve the same academic success regardless of their inclinations or ability. The way we teach in America has long been built around the test. In high school, students are expected to memorize material which they will later spit back onto a multiple choice or long answer question. Some of this material, students retain. However, we only retain a very small portion of it. The amount of information students are expected to memorize is in such large quantities that the average student will cram for a test and then forget the material a week or two later. In my experience, this notion has proven true. I have found that school has taught me how to get good grades, and not necessarily how to think.
I agree completely with this post. I think that standardized tests in school are pointless. They measure the amount of information you can retain, how well you do under pressure, and during a specific amount of time. I definitely admit that the information on most of the tests I've taken, I really don't remember most things. Actually, a lot of information I can't remember at all. I've gotten good grades in school, but it makes me question if I'm actually learning, or if I'm good at memorizing and picking the right multiple choice answer.
ReplyDeleteI have found this post very relatable to myself. I want to do well on my exams so I study very hard for them(most of the time the night before) which I do well on the texts then I remember only some of the material. But maybe if we did focus more on a project based learning style like you mentioned in your other post, maybe students would not forget the material.
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