In his recent column for the Denver Post, Mark Moe, asks, “What can [high school students] learn? Higher-level skills such as critical, creative, and global thinking, not to mention that old-fashioned virtue currently being buried under the midden of standardized tests: wisdom. To Socrates, wisdom began in wonder, a state of mind CSAPs and their ilk neither encourage nor measure.
“So, in our haste to race to the top leaving no child behind, let's also consider that, as W.B. Yeats put it, ‘Education is not the filling of a pail; it is the lighting of a fire.’ The educational zeitgeist notwithstanding, we need to keep that fire alive.”
In your own words, explain what you think Moe believes an education should be. How should we be teaching our young people? What should they be learning? Then, connect this definition of an education to your own experience in high school (or more recently at DU if you’re not a first-year student). What has your educational experience been like? Has the wisdom been tested out of you? Have you felt overwhelmed by the pressure to succeed rather than empowered to learn and grow as a student and a person?
Post you response as a comment to this post before class on Monday. Aim for 250-350 words. I look forward to reading your response.
Moe believes education should be teaching them in a way that creates an interest in what they are learning. She questions the effectiveness of testing kids and wonders if administrators’ only care about the kids test scores. Therefore, schools go ahead and reduce senior’s electives in order to have more teachers for the students who are being tested. She believes that her students want to discuss ideas, but they are not given any material to be passionate about and are therefore forgotten. She thinks it more important to learn skills that will serve you through you life such as critical, creative and global thinking and most importantly wisdom.
ReplyDeleteMy educational experience was challenging to say the least. As a student with a learning disability I was struggling to understand the material, while keeping up my grades. So, after middle school I transferred to Denver Academy for my first two years of high school. I was too easy academically and socially it was miserable. Then for my junior year I went to Cherry Creek high school. It is rated one of the top high schools in the entire country and therefore very competitive. They put showing good tests scores before anything else. However, my senior year I had an English teacher who has changed my life forever. She encouraged us as everyday as a class to discuss what we were learning and challenge how we were learning it. She actually cared enough to take the time and get to know each and every one of us. Most importantly she wanted to make an impact on our lives through what she was teaching. In the end this teacher empowered me to learn and grow as a student and person. I believe if it weren’t in part for her I would not be where I am today.
Mr. Moe provides a knowledgeable perspective on how he believes education should be. He argues that young people need to be taught a wide variety of information, even that which is not tested on standardized exams. He refers to W.B. Yeats words:
ReplyDelete“Education is not the filling of a pail; it is the lighting of a fire.”
By emphasizing this important quotation, Moe means to say that educators should not simply give their students the information that is necessary to memorize for the test, but they should spark the attention of the young people and inspire them to actually absorb the information, going beyond what is required to receive a high grade on the assessment.
I had a frustrating experience much like what Moe speaks of in my elementary school years. As a first-grader I attended a newly built school in its opening year. In third grade I took my first standardized CSAP test. I remember for weeks before the big assessment my peers and I took practice test after practice test in order to hone our ability to “Read through all of the possible answers before choosing the correct one,” and “Make sure to fill in the bubble completely.” These are just a few of the test-taking skills that we spent hours each day attempting to master. As an 8-year-old when the day to take the CSAP actually came, I thought it was the be all end all of my entire education. I was so sure that my teacher was going to hate me if I didn’t do well that I threw up my (suggested brain food) breakfast minutes before the test began. Looking back, I realize the pressure put on the teachers for their students’ test scores to reflect positively on the future of the new school in order to establish it as one of the best in its district. However, I feel like the only education I received that year was how to beat a standardized test into thinking that I was smarter than I was.
Sadly, elementary school was just the beginning of my education experience of having the wisdom tested out of me. In high school, I was forced to memorize facts and formulas to do well on exams, ultimately to do well on the ACT and SAT. The pressure of completing assessments with high scores never seized.
Finally, as a college student, I feel that my education is not being restricted by state requirements. Although I still feel the pressure to succeed in my classes, I feel empowered by the amount of knowledge a place like DU can and will offer me. With this great opportunity, I will learn and grow as a person more than I have been able to in my entire education experience thus far.
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ReplyDeleteMark Moe believes in an education that strives to create curiosity, which in turn inspires learning and knowledge. He is fighting against the current stream of education that teaches to standardized testing, which doesn’t inspire curiosity. In turn, students in today’s public schools may not be learning or be inspired to learn. Moe wants the audience to understand that current testing standards do not take into account that they are stifling students by making them learn what is on the tests versus learning in a healthier environment.
ReplyDeleteStudents today shouldn’t be learning to pass a test- it only teaches that tests that do not contribute to anything except state scores are more important than learning subject matter (like science) that will impact a student for the rest of their life. Unfortunately, teachers are forced to teach to the tests in fear of losing their jobs or having their school shut down because of low scores. Teachers are forced to teach their students how to pass a test in order to continue with their own jobs.
I remember being a student in Denver Public Schools, and learning how to pass the tests instead of learning the general subject matter. Often, teachers would give out worksheets for weeks on end on how to write or answer to get the best possible score. There was so much time given to learning how to pass the CSAPs that the curriculum that we were supposed to learn was cut short because too much time was given to test preparation. In my opinion, the scores and student achievement should be reevaluated by the state to see how much student knowledge has decreased.
Moe sees the education system as more than just a way to test the amount of information in a child’s head. He believes that education should be more than memorizing material. It should be more about the discovery. He quotes W.B. Yeats in saying, “Education is not the filling of a pail; it is the lighting of a fire”. This means that though learning curriculum is important for many jobs, this is not the purpose of education. The purpose is to create a passion for learning and developing the mind so that learning does not cease after school. Learning occurs throughout ones entire life and this is a skill worth teaching.
ReplyDeleteIn his column, Moe mentioned one of his classes. He said, “They're (students) always anxious to discuss ideas, given a framework that engages them”. Moe believes that students are excited or enthused when they are allowed to express their opinions within the topics that are relevant to their lives. This, in Moe’s opinion is a much better way of teaching and learning than memorizing and taking tests. The skills that will be most effective in each student’s future according to Moe are, “critical, creative, and global thinking, not to mention … wisdom”. None of these skills are measurable by standardized testing.
In high school I experienced all of these points first hand. I was not taught how to learn. I was taught how to memorize in time for a test so that I could then forget it one week later. This was not beneficial in the long run. Getting a satisfactory grade on a test does not mean that the material has been absorbed. The pail that I had been trying to fill up throughout school had a hole in it. The material wouldn’t stay. It was temporary knowledge. This was something that I did not enjoy about school. I wanted to learn, but I was not able to. Trying to cram as much material into my head in the shortest amount of time possible was not very beneficial. The pressure to pass a test or get a good grade on a project was more important than the actual learning itself. I now try to focus as much, if not more attention on the learning as I do the final grade. If the knowledge is there, then the grade should come with it.
In his article from the Denver Post, Mark Moe wonders how the high school students of today are to build critical thinking skills or even an interest in learning when their entire curriculum revolves around standardized tests such as the CSAP. Moe argues that the current school curriculum teaches kids how to cram and memorize facts to spit them back out, but that the system does not encourage kids to create their own opinions. He worries that the students of today are merely fact robots that regurgitate facts well, but have no idea of the deeper meaning and connections these facts create. He also worries that by taking the fun out of learning, students do not find learning to be stimulating, but rather a stressful task. He wants schools to simply put the fun back into learning. By nixing the standardized testing system, kids will relax and be able to find motivation to learn.
ReplyDeleteMy experience at Puget Sound was similar to the situation Moe describes in that learning felt like a chore. I spent hours and hours memorizing what felt like useless facts so that I could spit them back out on tests and then forget the facts a week later. My experience in high school was the same way. Teachers spent all their time teaching me facts that may or may not have been on the CSAP, ACT or SAT, and learning was a bore. I was always stressed or anxious about some-test-or-another and dreaded the learning (memorization) process every day. I do not remember teachers ever leading a group discussion that asked for the student’s opinions or even challenged us to form our own views on the learning material. But I do, however, see value in the standardized tests: for the state to get an idea on how education varies across the state. I just wish that schools would not then base their entire curriculum on these tests. I want them to, rather, restore the creative atmosphere of the classroom.
Mark Moe believes that education today teaches to a test rather than spurring curiosity in students to learn. Without distain for the testing system, which strives to ensure competency, Moe criticizes the current system for focusing all its attention on the test by providing extra teachers and resources to the classes tested and not enough on those not tested. Moe in this sense agrees with and even cites W.B Yeats who says “Education is not the filling of a pail; it is the lighting of a fire”. Today high school education focuses its attention on lecturing and trying to cram the brains of students with facts and figures, which many students find boring and non relatable. Instead, Mark Moe suggests education should be discussion based, getting students involved and interested in what they are learning. Connecting the students to the material and making it relatable hopefully lights a spark in student interest. Mark Moe uses the example of a class of seniors being interested and involved in a discussion surrounding philosophy because the teacher provoked a discussion that was relatable. In this sense, Mark Moe suggests that the same subjects and information should be taught in schools, however the delivery method should be altered so students can engage in the material.
ReplyDeleteI went to school at the John Cooper School in The Woodlands, Texas. This small private high school embodies the vision of Mark Moe. All of the classes are discussion based which stimulates student involvement and engagement. After freshman year, students do not take standardized exams, which allows teachers to build a challenging curriculum based upon student interest and connections to modern society. Because of the freedom given to the teachers to create this type of curriculum, students actually enjoy classes. The motto of the school, “from curiosity to wisdom” helps the students and faculty to engage in the material in a manner in which students become curious. My high school supports every notion that Mark Moe alludes to in his article as affirmation of his theory’s success.
In his article “Colorado voices: lighting a fire under our kids” Mark Moe makes the argument for more open-minded learning and teaching; a type of learning environment which encourages and demands critical thinking in addition to creative understanding i.e. “thinking outside the box.”
ReplyDeleteMoe address the key issue in public school education in today’s society which surrounds the idea of testing to see improvement. Many states believe, and have implemented state-wide tests such as the CSAP (here in Colorado) and the MCAS (in Massachusetts), both of which meet the requirements of former president George H.W. Bush’s policy of “No Child Left Behind.” The basic premise behind this policy is that if the country can accurately measure a school’s progress based upon standardized testing, the city and state can better provide funding in order to ensure that each child’s personal requirements for learning are met.
The problem with this kind of thinking is that a) the standardized tests do not count for a student’s personal grade(e.g. GPA) and therefore the student is less likely to put more effort into the examinations and b) many teachers, in order to get pay-raises and more funding in general for his/her school, would be more likely to “teach to the test” rather than to inform the students of the necessary information in a non-biased way.
Moe believes in teaching the high school students in the way that many (but not all) college students are taught: information presented in a neutral form that is designed to inspire the student to think rather than to regurgitate.
I seemed to have lucked out most of the time in both my high school and my college level courses. In general, at least in the more liberal arts type classes and the “soft” sciences, I am typically presented information by the professor or teacher in a neutral way and told to make of it what I will. Whereas in the “hard” science fields, I have generally been required to take in the information and be able to spit it back out word for word for a test. This is a poor way of learning in my opinion. For instance, in a class I took at the University of New Hampshire which I affectionately refer to as my “Tree” class, I can tell you that trees have a mycorrhiza, and that has something to do with roots. I got a B+ in the class, but I cannot give any more information about trees than that. I learned the information for the exam and then forgot it, whereas in my economics class, I learned information that I regularly reproduce in my daily conversations and frequently use in papers regarding drug policy in the United States. I understand the importance for being able to regurgitate science-y terms, but I feel that there is a better way of teaching such information so that it relates to the student’s and so that s/he finds it necessary to actually learn the material.
In his article “Colorado voices: lighting a fire under our kids” Mark Moe makes the argument for more open-minded learning and teaching; a type of learning environment which encourages and demands critical thinking in addition to creative understanding i.e. “thinking outside the box.”
ReplyDeleteMoe address the key issue in public school education in today’s society which surrounds the idea of testing to see improvement. Many states believe, and have implemented state-wide tests such as the CSAP (here in Colorado) and the MCAS (in Massachusetts), both of which meet the requirements of former president George H.W. Bush’s policy of “No Child Left Behind.” The basic premise behind this policy is that if the country can accurately measure a school’s progress based upon standardized testing, the city and state can better provide funding in order to ensure that each child’s personal requirements for learning are met.
The problem with this kind of thinking is that a) the standardized tests do not count for a student’s personal grade(e.g. GPA) and therefore the student is less likely to put more effort into the examinations and b) many teachers, in order to get pay-raises and more funding in general for his/her school, would be more likely to “teach to the test” rather than to inform the students of the necessary information in a non-biased way.
Moe believes in teaching the high school students in the way that many (but not all) college students are taught: information presented in a neutral form that is designed to inspire the student to think rather than to regurgitate.
I seemed to have lucked out most of the time in both my high school and my college level courses. In general, at least in the more liberal arts type classes and the “soft” sciences, I am typically presented information by the professor or teacher in a neutral way and told to make of it what I will. Whereas in the “hard” science fields, I have generally been required to take in the information and be able to spit it back out word for word for a test. This is a poor way of learning in my opinion. For instance, in a class I took at the University of New Hampshire which I affectionately refer to as my “Tree” class, I can tell you that trees have a mycorrhiza, and that has something to do with roots. I got a B+ in the class, but I cannot give any more information about trees than that. I learned the information for the exam and then forgot it, whereas in my economics class, I learned information that I regularly reproduce in my daily conversations and frequently use in papers regarding drug policy in the United States. I understand the importance for being able to regurgitate science-y terms, but I feel that there is a better way of teaching such information so that it relates to the student’s and so that s/he finds it necessary to actually learn the material.
In his article “Colorado voices: lighting a fire under our kids” Mark Moe makes the argument for more open-minded learning and teaching; a type of learning environment which encourages and demands critical thinking in addition to creative understanding i.e. “thinking outside the box.”
ReplyDeleteMoe address the key issue in public school education in today’s society which surrounds the idea of testing to see improvement. Many states believe, and have implemented state-wide tests such as the CSAP (here in Colorado), which meets the requirements of former president George H.W. Bush’s policy of “No Child Left Behind.” The basic premise behind this policy is that if the country can accurately measure a school’s progress based upon standardized testing, the city and state can better provide funding in order to ensure that each child’s personal requirements for learning are met.
The problem with this kind of thinking is that a) the standardized tests do not count for a student’s personal grade(e.g. GPA) and therefore the student is less likely to put more effort into the examinations and b) many teachers, in order to get pay-raises and more funding in general for his/her school, would be more likely to “teach to the test” rather than to inform the students of the necessary information in a non-biased way.
Moe believes in teaching the high school students in the way that many (but not all) college students are taught: information presented in a neutral form that is designed to inspire the student to think rather than to regurgitate.
I seemed to have lucked out most of the time in both my high school and my college level courses. In general, at least in the more liberal arts type classes and the “soft” sciences, I am typically presented information by the professor or teacher in a neutral way and told to make of it what I will. Whereas in the “hard” science fields, I have generally been required to take in the information and be able to spit it back out word for word for a test. This is a poor way of learning in my opinion. For instance, in a class I took at the University of New Hampshire which I affectionately refer to as my “Tree” class, I can tell you that trees have a mycorrhiza, and that has something to do with roots. I got a B+ in the class, but I cannot give any more information about trees than that. I learned the information for the exam and then forgot it, whereas in my economics class, I learned information that I regularly reproduce in my daily conversations and frequently use in papers regarding drug policy in the United States.
In his article “Colorado voices: lighting a fire under our kids” Mark Moe makes the argument for more open-minded learning and teaching; a type of learning environment which encourages and demands critical thinking in addition to creative understanding i.e. “thinking outside the box.”
ReplyDeleteMoe address the key issue in public school education in today’s society which surrounds the idea of testing to see improvement. Many states believe, and have implemented state-wide tests such as the CSAP (here in Colorado), which meets the requirements of former president George H.W. Bush’s policy of “No Child Left Behind.” The basic premise behind this policy is that if the country can accurately measure a school’s progress based upon standardized testing, the city and state can better provide funding in order to ensure that each child’s personal requirements for learning are met.
The problem with this kind of thinking is that a) the standardized tests do not count for a student’s personal grade(e.g. GPA) and therefore the student is less likely to put more effort into the examinations and b) many teachers, in order to get pay-raises and more funding in general for his/her school, would be more likely to “teach to the test” rather than to inform the students of the necessary information in a non-biased way.
Moe believes in teaching the high school students in the way that many (but not all) college students are taught: information presented in a neutral form that is designed to inspire the student to think rather than to regurgitate.
ReplyDeleteI seemed to have lucked out most of the time in both my high school and my college level courses. In general, at least in the more liberal arts type classes and the “soft” sciences, I am typically presented information by the professor or teacher in a neutral way and told to make of it what I will. Whereas in the “hard” science fields, I have generally been required to take in the information and be able to spit it back out word for word for a test. This is a poor way of learning in my opinion. For instance, in a class I took at the University of New Hampshire which I affectionately refer to as my “Tree” class, I can tell you that trees have a mycorrhiza, and that has something to do with roots. I got a B+ in the class, but I cannot give any more information about trees than that. I learned the information for the exam and then forgot it, whereas in my economics class, I learned information that I regularly reproduce in my daily conversations and frequently use in papers regarding drug policy in the United States.
Mark Moe’s article “Colorado Voices: Lighting a fire under our kids” is a high school teachers take on the flawed educational system. Moe begins the article with a story of his experience teaching seniors in high school, and shows the lack of focus in classrooms throughout the country. Moe credits much of the issue to the “test-score” culture that has running rampant in highs-schools. So much emphasis throughout high school is based on the standardized tests required to attend a top university. Moe understands that there needs to be a balance between testing in school and a more free-form approach of education much like that in his story. The flaw I have with Mr. Moe’s piece is that he does very little in regards to providing a solution to the issue. It is incredibly easy to point out the flaws in situations, whereas its much more difficult to provide a solution to a problem as drastic as the education system. I agree wholeheartedly that the pressure placed on students to perform on tests needs to be changed, but Moe needs to be more direct and forthcoming with his solution. My solution would be an overall shift away from traditional testing and grading. The purpose of higher-education is to become a well rounded intelligent contributing person in society and yet the opportunities available in college and afterwards are based on our performance on a surprisingly small number of tests that often don’t prove anything about ones involvement and passion for the subject. Teachers and professors should put less emphasis on tests to determine grades and more on a balanced review of a student’s participation, work, enthusiasm, and effort because rarely in life is a person judged based solely on their scores on a test.
ReplyDeleteMark Moe advocates for an education curriculum that emphasizes critical and creative thinking skills as opposed to the all too common tendency of teachers teaching solely to prepare students for standardized testing. As a result of such focus on teaching to the test, Moe claims that students lose interest in their academics and fall victim to a curriculum that fails to create well-rounded students.
ReplyDeleteThroughout my education thus far, I’ve found my schooling to be sharply focused on only getting higher test scores. Both my K-8 and 9-12 schools were within districts highly ranked by the state’s testing. As a result, it was clear to me, even from a young age, that teachers and administrators felt pressure to continue on with a curriculum that would supposedly result in high test scores in order to keep the community’s property values high among other things. Little emphasis was placed on creativity and it was virtually impossible to take more than two art classes in high school while still being able to graduate on time. I felt that my education was very prescribed and allowed little room for creativity and things beyond the textbook.
In a way, I feel I was cheated by the public school system. People wonder all the time why our nation is falling behind others in terms of education. To me, the answer is clear. We continue to allow our public schools to teach a curriculum relevant only to doing well on out of date standardized testing.
Moe believes that there is more to an education than what students can regurgitate on a test. Moe provides evidence that school administrations place test scores as more important than the benefits the students are receiving from their education. An education should be a lifelong experience that schools expose students to who then take it on themselves to further their level of knowledge and wisdom. School administrations are overwhelming students with the pressure to do well on tests and represent the school well, while losing focus on the students’ needs and interest in learning. Students should be learning information that interests them and will benefit them in the future outside of school instead of just the subject material that will be on the tests.
ReplyDeleteMy personal experience with education resembles this trend. Throughout my high school years I had both terrible and amazing teachers. I went to Grandview High School which is a very competitive school in Aurora, Colorado. I found that every year around the time of testing there was added pressure and stepped up enforcement to be in class and to do your absolute best on the tests so that the school would receive more funding and become an excellent school in the district. I knew so many students that would joke their way through these tests by making designs on the answer sheets and would write essays on off the wall topics because of the added pressure to do so well on these tests. I felt that throughout high school there were a lot of times where school administration took president over students development and success.
I believe that Moe thinks an education is something that is applicable to life outside of school and after school. Applicable in the sense that it allows a person to be creative and think outside of the box and pursue new and original ideas. Instead education has turned into teachers teaching information that will be on standardized tests. A lot of this information being taught is not really all that useful in the greater scheme of things. Most of what is taught is not used in a majority of people’s professional lives. And due to this nature of new learning kids do not learn things to retain the information, kids learn things to get a good grade and then push it from their minds. My high school experience was a little different than most. I went to a very prestigious boarding school and had a wide variety of classes from which I could choose from. I took math and science courses but I had the option to take science courses like Astronomy or A.I. or robotics. These were classes that I was personally interested in and would enjoy attending. We did not have normal English classes or history classes we purely had humanities courses in which we would read literature such as Conrad’s Heart of Darkness, Charles Dicken’s A Christmas Carol, and The Great Gatsby. At my school the pressure to succeed is immense because you are competing with a group of peers who a large number will attend Ivy League schools and the majority of the grade will attend top 50 schools in the country. We were pressured to succeed because there was so much competition in our school and a standard the school had to uphold. I personally strove to succeed because of the sacrifices my parents made for me to allow me to attend a school of that caliber. The only way to pay them back is to show them my success.
ReplyDeleteMark Moe gives an interesting insight on what he believes an education should be; being that it should spark the interests of students and not simply become the memorization of miscellaneous facts in order to get higher test scores. Moe states that he is not against testing, as it is necessary in developing skills such as comprehension, analysis, and expression. However, Moe presents the question: “What good are those skills as an end in themselves, as a score to be cheered and paraded, if students stop there, thinking themselves educated?” Moe thinks that young people must be interested in their studies in order to gain the wisdom that Socrates describes as starting in wonder.
ReplyDeleteI attended one of the highest rated public high schools in the country where the importance of standardized test scores are reinforced during pep rallies. Although great stress is placed on scoring high on standardized tests, I only felt pressured while taking my ACT as it would affect the colleges I would be accepted into and I think most students there (at least to my knowledge) could care less about the implications of standardized test scores in relation to school funding. Rather, I (and most other students) only felt pressure to do well on tests that would affect G.P.A. or some other facet examined when applying to college. I agree with Moe on the idea that students must be interested in their studies in order to gain wisdom, and I feel that this lies mostly in control of the teachers. During senior year my A.P. Economics teacher proved to capture the attention of several students diagnosed with “senioritis.” As a former anti-trust lawyer on Wall Street he explained why quitting his six-figure job for the position of a high school teacher maximized his happiness (or “utility” in economic terms). Although many students may find economics a dull subject, my teacher never failed to make my class think in economic terms by presenting strange and often time laughable real world scenarios. In this class I felt compelled to grow intellectually, and as a result achieved higher test scores in his class as well as the standardized A.P. tests.