Posted on 04/24/2014 3:55:52 PM PDT by Nachum
I get a lot of e-mail from parents and teachers who wonder if President Obama, whose children go to the private Sidwell Friends School, knows what is actually going on with all of the standardized testing in public schools. Here’s an open letter to Obama explaining what he is missing, written by Rebecca Steinitz, a literacy consultant in urban high schools, a writer and an editor. She was previously director of the High School Program at Lesley University’s School of Education and an English professor at Ohio Wesleyan University, where she ran the Freshman Writing Program. Steinitz is also a parent, as you will see when you read this post of hers, which also appeared on Huffington Post.
Dear President Obama,
We have something very important in common: daughters in the seventh grade. Since your family walked onto the national stage in 2007, I’ve had a feeling that our younger daughters have a lot in common, too. Like my daughter Eva, Sasha appears to be a funny, smart, loving girl, who has no problem speaking her mind, showing her feelings, or tormenting her older sister.
There is, however, one important difference between them: Sasha attends private school, while Eva goes to public school. Don’t get me wrong, I fully support your decision to send Malia and Sasha to private school, where it is easier to keep them safe and sheltered. I would have done the same. But because she is in private school, Sasha does not have to take Washington’s standardized test, the D.C. CAS, which means you don’t get a parent’s-eye view of the annual high-stakes tests taken by most of America’s children.
I have been watching Eva take the Massachusetts MCAS since third grade. To tell you the truth, it hasn’t been a
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonpost.com ...
Heh, good essay question for seventh graders ...
Defend KANT’s position vis a vis Frege. Give examples.
Yeah, I know. That is a problem.
Found a discussion on the ‘net about religious universities that have engineering degrees here:
http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/christian-colleges/767967-engineering-program.html
OMG, are you saying that kids today in school are not being taught the times tables?
My kids didn’t even have to learn addition tables in grade school. In fact, it is against the law. (Yes - the teachers are not allowed to teach math facts.)
HOWEVER, they and the principal did turn a blind eye as my wife and another gal would go in every day and teach two classes their “math facts” out in the hallway for many years (four??). Adding. Then subtraction. Then multiply, and then dividing.
I’m not sure if other parents took over after my kids had left grade school.
Even with the goofy common-core math you would be hard-pressed to do it without the basic math facts.
See my post 46. The teachers aren’t even allowed to teach the addition tables!
IOW, this critic (who probably voted for the dumb bastard) will now be excoriated as a racist because the black POTUS is sending his larvae to private schools. Thanks Nachum.
In Taiwan, the children are segregated based on their scores on semester tests. Each semester would have a realignment of classes.
All the top achievers are in one class. The medium achievers are in another. The slower kids are in another. They cover the same required material, but how the teacher approaches the subject is different.
Also, when the bell rings it is the teachers that switch classes. The students stay in the same classroom. All the students take the same classes.
I remember sitting at recess in the lower grades with groups of other girls and we would play hand-clapping games where one person calls out a *problem*, such as 7x9 and then a name and the one called had to then clap out the rhythm and give the answer. We tried to go as fast as possible.
Of course, that was in the very early 1950s.
I got it in second grade. That was probably too young for a student to get anything other than beginning arithmetic.
I was a “C” student in math, and I find myself—quite often showing up young people in multiplying/adding in my head. Except for my daughter’s boyfriend, he’s a math genius-—and he wants to waste his smarts on psychology!! Ugh! So, he’s not THAT smart.
I notice that your post has received no replies. My guess is that it is because it left people speechless.
I have to wonder what that page would look like if they were asking for two 7 digit numbers to be added. Any idea?
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.