I'm of the opinion that standardized tests are a waste of time. They don't test knowledge, they test the ability of the test taker to take tests. Don't get me wrong, I don't think they're bad because I don't do well on them... quite the contrary. I am an excellent test taker.

Starting Monday, sophomores in WA state will begin to take the 'Washington Assessment of Student Learning' or WASL. What is special about this particular year is the fact the class of 2008 must pass the WASL in order to graduate from high school. Now I'm not against there being requirements for kids to graduate (like a senior essay), but to base it on the fact that they passed some standardized test? Really? How the hell is this helping our kids? The stupidity of it all is that instead of teaching our kids things that they might be able to ACTUALLY use in life, we have now gone to focusing the curriculum to teach them how to pass the WASL. Isn't that a bit like the tail wagging the dog?

Here is the information I found out about the WASL (while listening to the local NPR station) that really illustrates how completely flawed this methodology is: If the student doesn't pass the WASL, he/she can retake the test... UP TO FOUR TIMES!! I mean, even a blind monkey could pass this test if it got 5 tries at it! Oh, and it gets worse. If for some strange reason (frontal lobotomy) your child can't pass within 5 tries, they can use other methods for qualification. So if we really want our children to learn the things that would allow them to 'pass' the WASL, why are we giving them 5 tries and then telling them,"It's ok you were too stupid to pass the test, we'll let you make it up some other way"? Is it just me or is it completely asinine to have a 'requirement' that has so many loopholes that you don't REALLY have to pass to graduate?

Labels: gov't dumbness

I feel bad for not posting here more often. There is a lot of stupidity out there so sometimes I don't know where to start. This particular rant has to do with the adoption but I figured it was better to post it here than on the adoption blog.

Stupidity=paperwork... or the other way around, I'm not sure. No one in the world has ever been made one iota smarter by doing paperwork. EVAR. In fact, I'm quite convinced that it's exactly the opposite. Everytime I fill out another piece of paper (especially one which I have already filled out at least once before), I feel my IQ go down. No one wakes up in the morning saying "gee, I really hope I get to fill out some paperwork today. That's my favorite thing in the whole wide world!" Yeah, right. Never going to happen. If there is, by some chance, a person out there like that I suggest the following: We gather a group of adoptive parents together, with copies of their homestudies in hand. Then, we all get to beat said person with the homestudy (and believe me, that's a lot of paper). After that we will create a big bonfire using the paperwork, and burn that person at the stake! Am I being too harsh?

Maybe that's why our social worker is the way he is? He's just done too much paperwork. (although I'm betting it's the pot) This guy kills me. Not to mention the fact that he charged us MORE for our homestudy update than he did for K&E's.... AND IT'S THE EXACT SAME THING! Nothing like paying $100 per page (or more in our case). I am in the wrong business. Seems to be our luck lately. And we can't change social workers now, it's too late.... nothing to do but grin and bear it. That doesn't make me feel any better about it.

Labels: general stupidity