Mar

22

It’s a conspiracy

Filed Under The Way I See It 

If you would prefer to listen to my post rather than to read it, please click on the audio link above. :)

I never used to be a conspiracy theorist. Actually when I realized I’d become one, I was rather shocked at first, but then I do have that touch of cynicism in me that I’d inherited from my father, and I did listen to that all night radio talk show that talked about one conspiracy after another when I had that bout of insomnia a few years ago. I’ve been suggesting in quiet tones , to just a few people that the literacy test the grade tens write and have to pass in order to get their graduation diploma seemed to be getting easier each year. I know. Imagine that.

This is how I see it: the first literacy test results were a tad disappointing, to say the least. Everyone was shocked. What was happening to the kids in Ontario schools. What were those teachers doing, or more to the point what were those teachers not doing? Why were the the kids doing so badly? If this continued, we wouldn’t be able to compete in the global market place, and the country would go to hell in a hand basket. But then, the government of the day decided to step up to the plate and fix the education system. Their solution: more of everything- more teachers, more expectations, more remedial classes, more on-line self-help, more, more , more. After the results of the following year’s literacy test, people were patting themselves on their back because the test scores were better. I did mention at that time , I thought the test was easier. But, I don’t think anyone heard me because of all the noise from all the celebrations.

This coming year’s test on March 29th has changed even more.It’s a one day test, instead of the usual two days. There are only 48 multiple choice questions instead of 100 and there are fewer reading and writing questions. I predict the test scores are going to improve again from the previous year. Isn’t the government doing a good job. Aren’t our schools wonderful now! Our country is not going to hell in a hand basket anymore. The politicians are smiling right into the next election.

OK, OK, a lot of teachers really worked hard to help kids get ready for the literacy test. I know I did, and I don’t want to belittle our efforts. But the test format did change significantly over time, so we’re not really comparing oranges to oranges. Who created the literacy test, guess. And no, I don’t have test results for each year at my finger tips to prove my point, but I did attend all those meetings about the literacy test for the last three years and read all those newspaper articles about it. You know what? I’d be really happy if someone were to prove me wrong.

 
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