Opinion piece on education standards and political elite schooling

&6 Teaching Minds SOME SUBJECTS ARE MORE IMPORTANT THAN OTHER SUBJECTS Yes, we have electives. But they don’t matter. Because accountability means making sure that we first teach what does matter. What mat- ters is the stuff that we are holding people accountable for. Since this seems to be math and science these days, for no good reason I can discern, this means that we will get to the stuff that would excite kids and keep them in school, and might teach them some job skills, after we are done with the important stuff. But I am certain that none of the politicians mentioned in the Times article knows the quadratic formula or the elements of the periodic table, which is, of course, the stuff of accountability since it is so easy to test. Then how can that be the important stuff? ALL IMPORTANT SUBJECTS CAN BE EASILY TESTED Yes, there are right answers in math. But are there right answers in whether we should have invaded Iraq? No? Does that mean we can’t teach how governments actually work and how to get reasoned argu- ments to be heard? Is there a right speech political candidates should make? Does that mean we can’t ask students to give speeches because we can’t easily assess them? Do we teach only subjects for which there are clear right answers? We do now, which is one reason why school is a deadly experience for one and all and will remain so as long as ac- countability is the key word in government. SEEING WHO DID BETTER THAN WHOM IN SCHOOL IS AN INTRINSIC PART OF THE EDUCATIONAL PROCESS It really is all about competition, isn’t it? Bush, both Clintons, and Obama are all the winners of the school competition. They went to Ivy League schools, which seems to be the real issue for most parents. I taught at Ivy League schools and I was profoundly unimpressed with the test- taking, grade-grubbing students I found there. The goal of education is not to say who won, and it is not to tell Harvard whom to admit. The goal is provide real-world skills, some of which HOUSE_OVERSIGHT_023832