Obama says too much testing makes education boring

[ProSense]

Obama says too much testing makes education boring

By ERICA WERNER, Associated Press

WASHINGTON – President Barack Obama said Monday that students should take fewer standardized tests and school performance should be measured in other ways than just exam results. Too much testing makes education boring for kids, he said.

"Too often what we have been doing is using these tests to punish students or to, in some cases, punish schools," the president told students and parents at a town hall hosted by the Univision Spanish-language television network at Bell Multicultural High School in Washington, D.C.

Obama, who is pushing a rewrite of the nation's education law that would ease some of its rigid measurement tools, said policymakers should find a test that "everybody agrees makes sense" and administer it in less pressure-packed atmospheres, potentially every few years instead of annually.

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"One thing I never want to see happen is schools that are just teaching the test because then you're not learning about the world, you're not learning about different cultures, you're not learning about science, you're not learning about math," the president said. "All you're learning about is how to fill out a little bubble on an exam and little tricks that you need to do in order to take a test and that's not going to make education interesting."

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[liskddksil]

1. Does he know what his own education policy is?

testing, punishment and charter schools.

[polichick]

7. Another example of words not matching policies.

[theaocp]

8. honestly, who knows?

Maybe he's just that clueless. :eyes:

[DJ13]

2. Is he testing our patience?

[gracchorumspes]

3. Agreed, good for him.

Hope he acts on this.

[jefferson_dem]

4. Just like Boooooooosh!2!1

Oh, wait a minute. Hmmmm...

[tallahasseedem]

5. LOL!

[theaocp]

6. ...and he'll continue to listen to the likes of Arne Duncan and

Michelle Rhee for how much longer? Talk is cheap. k&r

[jefferson_dem]

9. Amazing Irony Overload.

You complain about him *listening* to Duncan and Rhee and then proclaim that "talk is cheap" in the same breath. Well played.

[theaocp]

10. Irony?

I take my shirts to a cleaner. :rofl:

[jefferson_dem]

13. Touche.

:hi:

[opihimoimoi]

11. KnR Yup, I agree...

[DrDan]

12. I wish he had a CLUE about what is going on in the schools

Time to quit listening to those handlers and listen to some school professionals.

How about it!!!!!! Ready to listen!!!!!!

It's here already - unbridled testing!

[polichick]

15. True - schools have been teaching to the test for at least a decade.

[senseandsensibility]

14. Watch for it. As soon as the schools are privatized

tests will be BAAAAD. Heaven forbid the private schools be held accountable, especially in a way that can be directly compared to the public schools.

[Ramulux]

16. The man is delusional

Does he really not understand what his own education policy is right now? Does he not know anything about the man he nominated to be education secretary?

I think he thinks we are just stupid and have no idea what hes been doing in regards to education, so he can just say whatever he wants and we will buy it.