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Board of Contributors: Test takers, test makers
Harley Johnson
HILLSBORO — Profit being the driving force behind those who control our government — federal and state — let it be known once again in Texas that the getting is good for those who profit from standardized testing.
The last legislative session started the ball rolling toward more tests, and of course more profits.
This latest initiative — the move to end-of-course tests for high school graduates — is a tacit confession of how useless the current system is.
Useless and wasteful, not to mention costly.
I hope someone is watching to see whether we get ripped off this time or whether the tests are truly meaningful and helpful.
At the same time, it is long overdue to investigate the test makers as well as the way the contracts are awarded. All should be made public.
Investigate also whether federal No Child Left Behind funds are awarded in sweetheart deals to select contractors. U.S. Secretary of Education Margaret Spelling recently appeared to be at a loss to explain the process, with its inherent favoritism, to a congressional panel.
We are told by the education “experts” in Austin and Washington that we must prepare our youth for college.
More math and more science are good ideas for many college-bound students. But what about the others? At a minimum, half the students in Texas do not plan to go to college, nor do they wish to go. So, they are not motivated to take physics and calculus, etc.
They would like to be trained so they can obtain a job in construction, manufacturing and many other areas requiring skills not necessarily learned in higher level math, science or English.
Without this opportunity and this motivation, they will in all probability drop out or fail to master whatever test they must pass to graduate. They then will choose between low-paying jobs, prison or promises of a wonderful career opportunity in the military. Some will try them all.
For those interested in college, tuition at state schools has risen since our Legislature decided to permit the schools to raise tuition when they please.
At the same time, student loans and grants have been drastically cut or eliminated.
If students stick with the plan and overcome the financial obstacles, they will emerge in debt to compete with highly educated foreign workers for many of the jobs for which they achieved degrees.
With all the talk of curriculum requirements, “high standards” and “accountability” (testing), we are not serving great numbers of our students — the high achievers, those in the middle ground and those at the tail end who will not hang around to find something rewarding in test-prep and the TAKS drumbeat.
But those test-makers will profit.
This is sad, but it is part of the plan. The “haves and have mores,” who our president once joked (?) were his constituency, will get even more. The have nots will grow in numbers and in desperation. That is a dangerous situation, except for the have mores, who will get more, particularly if they’re in the business of standardized testing.
Harley Johnson is a member of the Board of Contributors, Central Texans who write columns regularly for the Tribune-Herald. He is a retired school superintendent.
— Harley Johnson
Waco Tribune-Herald
2007-08-27
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