The Problems With Standardized Testing Essay -- Standardized Testing Es

The educational system in the United States has gone through many changes over the last century. These changes are a part of a constant movement toward educational excellence for every child in this nation. One of the most recent acts placed on public school systems by the government is to create more accountability for schools in order to ensure that all children are receiving the proper education. Part of this mandate is that public schools will require students to take tests in order to gather information about their academic achievement. Although educators and administrators claim that the mandatory ability testing programs being initiated in America’s public schools will hold students and teachers accountable for academic achievement, these programs are really causing more problems than they are solving. Mandated standardized testing is also known as â€Å"high-stakes testing†. When the tests are used to evaluate students and to hold educators accountable these tests are deemed to be â€Å"high stakes tests† because the consequences can be serious. An example of a serious outcome of these tests would be whether or not a child moves to the next grade or graduates high school. High stakes test were put into action by our nations policymakers in an attempt to improve education. Shortly after taking office in 2001 President George W. Bush announced his No Child Left Behind, which he called â€Å"the cornerstone of my administration.† (The No Child, 2002) This law has been implemented to ensure that all students reach proficiency within 12 years. No Child Left Behind is increasing accountability for our public school systems. Students in grades 3-8 must take annual test in reading and mathematics. The results of the tests are bro... ...w.ed.gov/offices/OESE/esea/exec-summ.html This article gave the text book definition of The No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 and the governments position on the law. President Gorge Bush’s comments were also posted on this site. Each section on the law was reviewed in this article. Weathers, D. (2001, May). The Evils of Mandatory Testing. Retrieved April 12, 2003, from http://www.lessontutor.com/dw1.html This article was much more of a personal opinion of a concerned parent. Even so I found the information useful in order to compare the pro’s and con’s of this issue. Wright, W. E. (2002, June 5). The Effects of High-Stakes Testing in an Inner-City Elementary School: The curriculum, the teachers, and the English language learners. Current Issues in Education [On-line], 5(5). Retrieved on April 15, 2003. from http://cie.ed.asu.edu/volume5/number5/

Describe the main strengths and weaknesses of Utilitarianism Essay

Strengths * Utilitarianism is simple. It doesn’t have a lot of complex rules, but instead the individual can decide would be the ‘best’, by how it affects others. * It is flexible: no law or principle is unchallengeable. * It allows for circumstance, so you can decide what is the best thing to do given the current circumstance. * It ties in with the Christian ethic of unconditional love, as preached by Jesus. * If someone believes that both lying and breaking promises are acts that are intrinsically wrong, utilitarianism provides a principled way in which they can choose which moral rule to break if forced to make a choice between them. * The emphasis on impartiality, unselfishness and altruism is to be commended. * There is no need to consider precedents as absolute – just because one action worked for someone does not mean that it must be enforced again, when it may not work for someone else. * It is also attractive to secular thinkers, because it makes no grand claims to the supernatural or metaphysical. It appeals to tangible results – the consequences of an action will be perceived. Weaknesses * What do we mean by happiness? What makes us happy? It is hard to define happiness as it varies with person to person. * Should happiness always be pursued? What if we can only be happy if we achieve it in a ‘bad’ way? Like if a murderer is only happy if he kills someone. * How can we say that happiness from one pleasure is greater than from another? There is no way to tell if a genius is any more happy than someone not so clever. * Humans do not always treat each other equal. We care more about the people close to us and would give them more consideration in an ethical dilemma. Some would claim that utilitarians are simply idealistic and unrealistic because they do not accurately evaluate human behaviour and just assume we are all perfect, caring equally for everyone. * It is impossible to be certain about a consequence, which is a general problem with teleological ethics. * It is very difficult to measure pleasure given by any outcome. It will take a great deal of time, thought and study, considering effects on both people and the situation. * Can we compare one person’s happiness to another person’s happiness? * If only the total happiness counts, imagine these two situations: [A] 80% population live very well and are very happy because the other 20% are their slaves. [B] There are no slaves and everyone is happy but not as happy as the 80% in situation A. The total and average happiness in both situations is the same, therefore to a utilitarian there is no difference between the two, and both are equally morally right, but slavery is considered wrong. * Is Act Utilitarianism too demanding? Someone buys a TV for à ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½500, which would make them happy; but they could also spend the money saving 1000 lives in Africa. Some Act utilitarians would argue that, yes, we should send most of our money overseas, since that would create the most happiness for the most people, but is that too demanding? * The refusal to acknowledge intrinsically wrong acts: a judge might convict an innocent man in order to prevent a riot that would ensue if he were not convicted – a utilitarian would argue that this is permissible because more people would be made unhappy by the lack of a conviction and the riot; but is it intrinsically wrong to imprison or execute an innocent man? * Act utilitarians might accuse Rule utilitarians of being legalistic: what’s the point, they could say, of following a rule when it is clear that the consequences will decrease happiness? In their view, past experience can only give guidelines, not rules. * Rule utilitarianism may just be act utilitarianism in disguise: all the rules are focussed around the maximisation of happiness. Rule utilitarians believe that the best way to maximise happiness is to maximise happiness with every act- but this is just act utilitarianism. * Human rights, justices, and other such values may not have any place in a utilitarian ethical system if the wishes of the majority override them. * Christians, Muslims, and others of religious faith would argue that god decides what is rights, and what is the best outcome; it is not four humans to try to calculate. * Utilitarianism ignores ‘meaning well’ – benevolent motives. * Utilitarianism â€Å"seems to require more of a human that many are capable of providing† * Just as there are no absolutes for determining acts which are intrinsically wrong, there is also no way to define what is universally good. * There must be sufficient account taken of the minority view – the majority are not always right, even though the satisfaction of their wishes might create the most happiness.

How a Self-Fulfilling Stereotype Can Drag Down Performance...

Shankar Vedantam, author of Hidden Brain and NPR science correspondent informs and advocates for equality in the education system in his article â€Å"How a Self-Fulfilling Stereotype Can Drag Down Performance† published in the Washington Post (2009). Vedantam begins his article by interacting with the audience while he asks a question,and he cites Sociologist Min-Hsuing Huang’s research on the influence that the environment has on a minority. Huang found out that: reminding minorities of their race before a test, limits them more than if they werent reminded. Vedantam highlights the fact that Huang’s research goes unnoticed by prominent figures in†¦.such as managers, policy makers, parents,etc. He then goes on to prove the corruption in social science that impacts the lives of every minority, which is truly everyone because anyone can be in a setting that makes them a minority. Our class was inspired by Shankar Vedantam’s piece to conduct research on stereotypes at Point Loma High School. We were provided questions by Ms. Roberts and asked one person in class and another outside of class. The ages of those interviewed ranged from freshmen to seniors in highschool. Later, we input our data in a Google form and later converted it into a summary data chart and spreadsheet. The results were sorted by ethnicity and gender. Using our results we were able to find trends/similarities of the impact/aftermath and responses of those who were interviewed This research of 165Show MoreRelatedStereotypes in Our School637 Words   |  3 Pagesthat supports the idea that many people experience stereotypes, and are affected by them. Author and Scientific Journalist, Shankar Vedantam, in his article â€Å"How a Self-Fulfilling Stereotype Can Drag Down Performance,† Explains that If people are stereotyped, they can start to embody the stereotypes made about them without realizing it, which could lead to a degradation in their performance, because of the negative self image caused by these stereotypes. He supports this claim by giving a few real worldRead MoreStereotypes at School599 Words   |  2 PagesDr. Shankar Vedantam is a profound author and scientist for the NPR. The author of the passage â€Å"How a Self-Fulfilling Stereotype Can Drag Down Performance† Shankar Vedantam believes that by reminding a certain race of people about their race before a test they will score lower than if not reminded. Shankar’s purpos e in revealing this information is to erase the imagery of stereotypes when testing. He adopts a different tone when the article moves on by going from a factual article to a more opinionatedRead MoreThe Situation of Stereotypes in High Schools557 Words   |  2 PagesStereotypes in our society can be a major problem, but can be an extremely big problem to teenagers. In my school, stereotypes has a wide range of impact to our students. In our class we had read an article based on stereotypes.Writer and musician, Shankar Vedantam, in his article, â€Å"How a Self-Fulfilling Stereotype Can Drag Down Performance,† claims that if you mention a person race they may have a lower performance on tests. He supports his claim by first explaining that when a person is testedRead MoreStereotypes at my school649 Words   |  3 PagesStereotypes in school can affect students and their education. We did some research about stereotypes at our school, Point Loma High, but first we read â₠¬Å"How a Self-Fulfilling Stereotype Can Drag Down Performance,† by Shankar Vedantam. He argues that how being a stereotype can bring down someones work performance. He supports his claim by first explaining that on a standardized vocabulary test, black people on average scored a 5.49 out of 10 questions correctly and white people answered 6.33 correctlyRead MoreHow Stereotypes Affect Teens699 Words   |  3 PagesStereotypes can be a problem in our society, but they are especially a problem for teenagers. At my school stereotypes impact a wide range of students. My class read â€Å"How a Self Fulfilling Stereotype Can Drag Down Performance,† by Writer and novelist, Shankar Vedantam. In his article he argues that telling people about their race before an exam will hurt their performance. He supports his claim by providing statistics on the average test scores of blacks compared to whites. He then explains thatRead MoreStereotypes Can Affect the Test Performance of Peop le507 Words   |  2 Pages Author Shankar Vedantam, in his article How a Self-Fulfilling Stereotype Can Drag Down Performance suggests how stereotypes can affect the test performance of people who belong to a minority. He supports this claim by first giving the statistics of a study that shows how african americans score worse on a test that is given by a white person than white people taking the same test. Then he says that people who are taking the same test do worse when they are reminded that they belong to a minorityRead MoreStereotypes in Schools953 Words   |  4 PagesStereotypes in school can affect students in their confidence and education. Writer, Shankar Vedantam, in his article, â€Å"How A Self-Fulfilling Stereotype Can Drag Down Performance,† argues that reminding people of their race before a test or quiz can be the reason they dont score as high on a test. He supports his claim by first explaining things that Sociologist Min-Hsiung Huang discovered. He th en explains how whites have been scoring higher than other races this affects chances of them gettingRead MoreStereotypes in School517 Words   |  2 PagesStereotypes in school can affect student and their education. Writer, Shankar Vedantam, in his article, â€Å" How a Self-Fulfilling Stereotype Can Drag Down Performance,† explains the effects of stereotypes and how other races handle them. He supports his claim by explaining to the audience what a beast is, and how the answer depends on who is asking the question. He then explains how he eventually came to understand that minorities do better when they work with their own race and are not reminded ofRead MoreStereotypes at Point Loma High School609 Words   |  2 PagesOur class does research on the way stereotypes affect people in our school. We have interviewed 165 students. 79% of the people we interviewed were in 9th grade. The rest were evenly spread between 10th 11th and 12th grade. only 42% of our participants w ere female, while 58% were male. The majority of our interviewees identified themselves as white at 46%. 33% were hispanic or latino 7% were african american 4% were asian american 10% were other and 1% were native american. A majority of our participants