‘Race to Nowhere’ Questions Our Preoccupation with Testing

babble.com - Posted by Evangelist Cave playwright on March 8th, 2011 at 10:11 pm

Is our edifice system's engrossment with investigating stressing discover our kids?

“Race to Nowhere” is a small-budget movie that was released terminal September which poses questions that would make some self-respecting Tiger Mom stir her head in disgust. But to some parents, the film’s premise rattling hits home. Could it be that our edifice systems are so preoccupied with investigating and measuring that they’re creating angst-ridden children who are crumbling under the stress? Who consider anything less than the 99th percentile a failure?

Madeline prototypal covered “Race to Nowhere” backwards in October. In reflecting upon the documentary, Madeline was mitt with these questions:

What, exactly, was feat on at school? And was every â€" or some â€" of this pressure rattling worth it. What does it advance to? Are kids rattling acquisition anything or are they meet expiration (or flunking) the tests and effort ulcers in the meantime? I wonder what category of thinkers are coming discover of the edifice systems.

And she’s not alone. MSNBC ran an engrossing example I read early today which summarized the important saucer of the flick as follows:

“Our engrossment with investigating and performance has undermined actualised acquisition in the classroom, and haw even be threatening the healthy utilization of kids, who ofttimes see overwhelmed by the pressure to surpass at every costs.”

Sound dramatic? Not to professional Roger Medoff who was so condemned by the documentary’s matter that he arranged for a display at a accord center in his hometown of Columbia, Md. Medoff offers a priceless perspective. He taught middle edifice in the mid 70s before decent an attorney. He notes: “The pendulum was in a rattling different locate then â€" it was a rattling empiric time. That’s when I conceive I developed my values most what proportional activity could be. So for a long instance I have been critical of, and angry about, this culture of unrestrained investigating and homework.”

Amy Kappers was also interviewed in the piece. She talks most her daughter, Olivia’s preoccupation with attaining state in the scholarly world. The Walnut High intermediate in Cincinnati, Oh. was actually frustrated when she scored a 98th percentile on her PSAT. That’s when Amy thought: “OK, we requirement to backwards up here.”

Kappers is digit of some parents who conceive that achieving a beatific equilibrise is even more important that acing every azygos standardized test. She believes that if a child crapper never listen a Tuesday-night sport mettlesome because she’s ever studying, every the AP classes in the concern aren’t as priceless as they might otherwise be.

But her girl sees it from the another perspective â€" the digit of a enrollee who is caught up in the culture that is current at some schools â€" the do-well-or-else attitude that riddles kids with angst as they try to be every things to every people in hunt of effort into the college of their dreams.

If null else, the movie is causing a lively debate, a decidedly anti-Tiger-Mom category of debate, at that. And Medoff, for one, believes that such speaking is already leading to a more positive scholarly landscape for our kids.

“There are lowercase nips and tucks taking place, but I conceive meet as importantly, [Race to Nowhere] has given parents more certainty in swing their foot down.”

Have you seen the film? What do you think? Are we likewise obsessed with testing? Is such an preoccupation hampering the activity and utilization of our kids?

Image: stock.xchng

Source