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TEACHING_THE_TEST
The New York State Regents
exam in English had some As I understand it,
required essay writing... something like this
is going to be added
to the SAT.
I did pretty well on it
because I happened to
have a rather hard-nosed
obnoxious English
teacher who decided that
his job was to get us to
score high on this test,
so he *told us how the
test was graded*.
He explained that what the graders
wanted to see was three paragraphs,
a one sentence introduction that
explained what you were going to
say, a three sentence main body
that said it, and a one sentence
conclusion that re-iterated the
introduction.
I turned in a completely inane
"essay" (theme: "Jack Kerouac
was into Freedom", or
something like that) that was
in fact completely brain dead, For me, this success
but fit this form exactly. of form-over-substance
was something of a
If I'd really been prepared, breakthrough.
I could have written a half
dozen generic "essays" in THE_QUESTION_OF_ESSAYS
advance, and walked in the
door with them memorized,
ready to deal one out in
response to whatever silly
questions we were given to
choose from.
I've since learned that some people
regard "teaching the test" as some
sort of dirty trick; or perhaps
caving into the silly "standardized
testing" routine letting it corrupt
the educational process.
I was once talking to a university
professor at a technical conference
who said "Do you know what engineering
school has the highest rate of
graduates who pass the Professional
Engineer exam? Idaho State University!
Because they *teach the test*!"
This was supposed to be a
reducto ad absurdum, but
it was a bit lost on me
because by an odd fluke
I was someone who had Idaho State University,
actually taken the class was located in Pocatello
that he was talking about. which was the town I was
living in while working
And it actually wasn't at the Westinghouse
a bad class at all. It site. Wimpy reputation
was only worth a single or no, that was where I
unit (a third or a fourth took some classes (while
of a regular class), so working a full time
it's not like there was Engineering job... I was
a lot of academic pretty crazed in those
incentive for the degree days).
oriented students (of which
I certainly wasn't one, There's a paradox
I was taking classes to about Higher
learn stuff). Education that you
don't hear discussed
From the point of view very much though:
of learning stuff, there isn't that much
mostly it was about difference between
doing the sample the Good Schools and
questions in the the Bad Schools, in
published review book fact sometimes the
(that anyone could Good are bad and
study from in theory). the Bad are good.
There was a little bit
of review/instruction, I took some classes
a little bit about test in digital electronics
strategy, but not that at ISU taught by a
much. design engineer who worked
at the local American
Microsystems plant.
To the extent that the
test was well designed, It isn't conceivable
the class had to be that I would've learned
well designed... why *not* more from classes at MIT.
teach the material on the
test? If that's a *bad* At places like Stanford,
thing to do, doesn't that while there are certainly
mean you should drop the many pretty great professors
test? there are also many
that aren't.
Successful academics
bring in funding and
Sometimes, what you crank out publications,
hear from "professors" and they know that the
at the Top of the Line education biz is way
schools is that really down the list of
the students have to priorities.
teach each other, and
Good Schools are good
because they attract (The really bad
the best students. ones got where
they are by
I don't know about you, being good at
but this little paradox kissing ass and
smells like a really lame looking good in
excuse for laziness to me. suits, and
aren't even all
that bright.)
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