Evaluation: Testing and the Classification of People

In this biting article Greg Palast is not afraid to jolt our senses and reveal the real problem behind our current obsession with testing...

"You know and I know that this is not an educational opportunity program - because you offer no opportunities, no hope, no plan, no funding. Rather, it is the new Republican social Darwinism, educational eugenics: identify the nation's loser-class early on. Trap them, then train them cheap."

NO CHILD'S BEHIND LEFT
The New Educational Eugenics in George Bush's State of the Union

The increasing emphasis on testing in both the United States and Canada is folly. The connection between education and the assembly line has been noted by many people - and the connection is a valid one.

Pushing testing as a means to "correct" the problem will further weaken the school system. Worse, bright and intelligent young people will be marginalized because of this foolishness. There is no basis for assuming that the students who do well on these tests are somehow "smarter" or more "prepared" for whatever it is we like to imagine we are preparing them for. The social damage this kind of thinking leads to is very significant.

Exactly who makes decisions like these and where is the evidence to show that it is a good one? Isn't it time we got rid of all this foolishness about preparing students "for the workplace of the future" - whatever that is?

In Ontario, Canada the current grade 10 literacy test is currently under a serious legal challenge initiated by six families. A teacher who has marked these tests is also speaking out in Gr. 10 literacy test 'a farce': Former marker English teacher says 'public being fooled' by flawed, unfair exam but administrator stands by evaluation and its scoring.

Standardized testing is a serious mistake. Unfortunately the people that make a decision like this fail to see beyond politics and economics.

Standardized testing is a form of victimization.

Let's hope for a social revolt against this nonsense. Let's hope that more parents, like those in Ontario, decide to take action.