Dom wrote:
> On Apr 14, 8:43 pm, Dom <DR...@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> wrote:
>
>>courant.com/news/education/hc-schools0412.artapr12,0,4467040.story
>>
>>Courant.com
>>Students At 9 Conn. High Schools To Get Financial Incentives
>>
>>By LYNN DOAN, Courant Staff Writer
>>
>>April 12, 2008
>
> [snip]
>
> The following Letter to the Editor was published today.
> ===========================
>
> courant.com/news/opinion/letters/hc-
> digedlets0419.art5apr19,0,776359.story
>
> AP Rewards Set Bad Example
> April 19, 2008
>
> Paying students to pass Advanced Placement examinations and giving
> bonuses to their teachers [Page 1, April 12, "Pass Test, Get $100"] is
> bad pedagogy and ethically suspect.
"bad pedagogy and ethically suspect" - I think saying something like
that is going to require that to be proven. Which would mean that the
program would need to be tried at least in a few places and then
compared to the results of where it wasn't used.....
> Despite government and cor****ate pressure, teaching and learning have
> never fit business models that reduce success and failure to a
> quantitative bottom-line, extol competition and link "results" to
> cash.
IMO - that might have been true maybe 100 years ago, 50 years ago, 25
years..... Times change - the students today are not the same as the
ones from back in the fifties - personally, I think we (education) need
to get away from the idea that one-size-fits everybody and what worked
for one generation should work for them all...
> My high school students perform best when they are intrinsically
> interested in their studies. If the goal of Project Opening Doors is
> to attract students to math, science and English, ExxonMobil could
> have used its $13.2 million to much better effect by paying for field
> trips to science labs, intern****ps with mathematicians and writers'
> visits to schools.
Which might work for some percentage of the students - while the $100
could be what motivates someone else.
One think that I think people overlook is, most of these kids are fully
capable of passing tests (these AP exams and/or the state standards) -
but most are just sick and tired of having to take all of these tests
and then having to do that again next year and then the next..... even
the kids who have the proper intrinsically motivation can get to the
point where it becomes a chore to do another test. That C-note might be
something that gives them that extra boost. That is if they see any real
value in $100 nowadays - that's what two fillups at the local gas
station? Half a pair of tennis shoes?, One hundred orders of chicken
nuggets at Wendy's?
> Helping kids devise their own science experiments, showing them the
> creative possibilities inherent in mathematics and nurturing their
> enthusiasm for words and language would yield far greater results than
> dispensing $100 bills for minimum passing grades on AP exams.
Who is saying that this $100 is going to replace the need to do that?
The author of this piece is comparing apples to a full course meal..
Martin
> Good teachers find ways to foster student interest in a subject
> matter. My students tell me all the time that they want their studies
> to be relevant to their lives, and they show themselves capable of
> extraordinary effort and achievement when they feel a personal
> connection with their work.
>
> Lots of research confirms that we cannot simply reduce learning to a
> business. It is a pity that the leaders of the nine high schools who
> are taking the oil company's money, and even the state commissioner of
> education, are pursuing a path that defies classroom experience and
> the educational literature.
>
> Christopher L. Doyle, Ph.D., Simsbury
> The writer teaches Advanced Placement U.S. history and Advanced
> Placement European history at Farmington High School.
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