OBAMA: Education and the Role of Standardized Tests

For those who know me personally, it is no secret that I feel passionately about education and I don't pass on many chances to share my views on education reform or my feelings on the weight of standardized testing. So, when I learned of President Obama addressing this topic, I was intrigued to say the least. I think he's got the right idea...as he should considering he is the President. For the full article, click here.

I think that many people attack standardized tests altogether, but I instead desire to focus on the weight of performance on certain standardized tests. I think that they can be excellent measures of certain characteristics, but I undoubtedly believe that too much rests on test results...for both students and schools. It has been my experience that schools being held to certain standards of achievement on standardized tests make the test the #1 priority for teachers...thereby making the curriculum less dynamic for the students and the overall education lacking. I have said time and time and time again...like a broken record-- the generations of students in grade schools in the United States today, will be competing in a global landscape for jobs tomorrow. The future of this country is at stake and education policy has to change. The systems that are in place are not working on a large scale...and that is understood. What must happen is major support for the things that are working on a small scale and even more support for innovation in education. Everyone seems to want to jump on a bandwagon behind one thing or the other... when we need fresh new ideas of how to best educate children for life success, whether that leads them to college, technical college, military, trade school, etc... It sounds cliche, but THINK OUTSIDE OF THE BOX!

Although "college prep" seems to be the sound bite of choice for many urban schools at present. The real question is are the students going to graduate from college. If we take a look at the statistics, the dismal numbers of urban high school graduates that are accepted to college and matriculate are further depressing because recent statistics reveal that only about 43% of them graduate. Getting accepted to college is only the first step of many in college success. I think that the vast majority of "college prep" schools are not truly accepting the reality of these numbers while they are focusing teaching on standardized tests. The majority of their "high achieving" students are not finishing college, so that extremely focused "college prep" curriculum that trimmed out learning about what President Obama called, "the world" and "cultures" has, in essence failed the students.

Oh...but the students passed the standardized tests... isn't that what matters?


--As always, my standard is Author. What's yours?

Herman Cain: 'Don't Condemn Me Because First Black President Was Bad'

After a failed 2004 run for U.S. Senate in Georgia, 2012 Republican Presidential hopeful and pizza CEO extraordinaire, Herman Cain, is ready to travel across the States to meet voters one-on-one.


In a March 13, 2011 Union Leader article, Herman was quoted:

"Now people are over this first black President thing," he said. "But there are some people who will say, 'I'm not going to vote for another black guy because this one didn't work out.'

"And my response is, 'Well, what about those 43 white guys you put in there? How did they work out?'

"Don't condemn me because the first black one was bad," Cain said with a smile.

.........................well, Mr. Cain, we now know you have this President thing down, you sure know how to put your foot in your mouth...just as well as some of our previous Presidents, who shall remain nameless... I would be equally as ignorant if I thought it necessary to comment further on this statement.

For more on Mr. Cain's background and his views on taxation and health insurance, take a look at the article. The Huffington Post also published an article here.

For those of you short on time, I will see if I can abbreviate Mr. Cain's background and road to the White House--Morehouse College (mathematics), worked as mathematician for Department of the Navy while earning a Master's (computer science) at Purdue, then worked for Coca-Cola, moved to Pillsbury to run Burger Kings, took over as Godfather's pizza CEO, now Atlanta radio talk show host...and he says he is "not done yet!"... next stop--President of the United States...."because the first Black one was bad"...

I am sure Mr. Cain is a fine gentleman, who probably can run a mean Burger King or Godfather's pizza company, and host a solid radio talk show- however, I think America may not be quite ready for that expertise in the White House.


--As always, my standard is Author. What's yours?