Should I take Spanish 3 if I will get a B or C?

lostaccount
Sun, 03 Jan 2016 02:22:33 +0000

Where in all these posts is the idea of learning (and specifically, learning) Spanish? Sometimes I wonder if the majority of students don’t “get” what education is all about. I will admit this is frustrating to me. And sadly, the same mentality has infiltrated the college community too. Some colleges are now just grades 13-16.

I am not naive. I get it. I can visualize the string of posts reminding me that students are under pressure and that taking a pragmatic approach to education is a necessity blah blah blah. But where the heck is the idea that school involves education and learning. It has been lost.

But I am not willing to give up yet. So let’s revisit what education is all about.

First, the mentality usually expressed. Students select courses with an eye towards which courses they can get the grades they want in, in order to qualify for professional schools. Their selection of classes is based on which courses have tests they can ace (or whatever). They choose courses in high school with the same thing in mind. They study the material they think will be on the tests. The closer they can get to studying only the exact material that will be on the test, the better off they think they are. This attitude is now ubiquitous. Teachers now give students information about exactly what is on the test-even when the test will exclude important information. And students are now instructed about how to nail the tests (instead of learn material).

The mentality is -ss backwards. Education is about learning so that the next generation is prepared to run the world and contribute to the evolution of civilization. The material to be learned is divided up into “courses” because it is easiest to ensure that necessary material is taught by instructors who are experts in each topic if the topics are separated into classes. Instructors prepare material to be learned with the expectation that learning the necessary material can be most efficiently accomplished if experts guide students. But the idea is that students are the learners. They are responsible for mastery with the help of teachers. The expectation is that the student will be motivated to master the material at the highest level possible because they will need the information and material to function at the highest level as possible (both in general terms and pertaining to vocational choices). But how can we be sure that students have mastered material. Well, we can use assessments designed to measure the extent to which each student has mastered the necessary material. That is the original purpose of assessment-not to order students and not to serve as gate keepers. The idea is that students master the material. That is the focus. The assessment is usually simply a small sampling of the to-be-learned material. The results of assessment would provide information to the instructor about whether the instructor can assume the students know the material or not. Knowing material is the goal.

Colleges set minimal requirements because they believe that students should be knowledgeable about those topics. That is the order. A minimal amount of knowledge in certain topics sets the stage for acquiring knowledge at a higher level when students get to the college. Number of years serves as proxy for level of knowledge but the point is that colleges want students to already have mastered certain topics at a certain level.

So the reasoning goes in this direction- 1st…NUMBER 1: certain material is deemed important to be learned. That material forms the foundation for the program of study. To ensure students have mastered that material, tests or other strategies are used to quantify the level of mastery of the to-be learned material. Students should aim at mastering the material at the highest level possible since the material will contribute to the student’s (and to the entire cohort’s) ability to run the world i(or be a decent doctor or build a bridge or help make peace with other countries) in the future. If students have mastered the material, it should not matter what form of assessment is used. Mastery will lead to an outcome on tests that reflect mastery. Get the order? Education has been so corrupted students no longer even think about the topics they are learning about. It is sad! Did you learn any Spanish?

Why the rant? Because so many CC posts are about gaming education to create appearances that colleges will find appealing. I think it is a deadly turn and a total corruption of what education is all about. Do you want to learn Spanish? Will learning Spanish be valuable to you in your life? If so, take it.