As I read through chapter 3 of Tony Wagner's book, The Global Achievement Gap, I was very impressed with the level of autonomy the high schoolers, who were interviewed, seemed to have. The way these high school students speak of their education reveals how proactive they are in their learning. It reminds me of when I was about to enter high school and what type of learning environment I was hoping to find. I researched my options and presented my findings to my own parents when trying to convince them to enroll me in a particular high school, along with reasons that explained the pros and cons. Even though I also took a proactive approach in deciding which high school to attend, for the most part, most high schoolers just go to the nearest high school and accept it as a given. Many don't even realize that they have a choice. As I read about the interviews that took place with these high schoolers, I was very surprised with how responsible they seemed to be regarding their educational choices.
Another connection I had to chapter 3 was when on page 114, Tony points out that a recent study discovered that a main reason students drop out of school is "will, not skill". When I read that part, the movie Stand and Deliver immediately came to mind! In the movie, the high school teacher, Jaime Escalante, constantly tells his students that they need to have "ganas" (will or desire). He was helping them develop their math skills, but without "ganas" they wouldn't go far. Somehow Jaime Escalante knew that success would require a lot more than just their math skills. He knew that "ganas" is really what would bring them home and now there's a study funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation that supports his belief!
Later in the chapter, Tony Wagner goes into great detail explaining all these wonderful assessments that do exist that measure our students skills more accurately than multiple choice exams. He does explain that they are a lot more expensive and take much longer to grade but that there are solutions to that, such as only administering those exams to a sample representative of the student population. Then he says that another reason that they haven't been administered is because "there has not yet been a public demand for better assessments" (Wagner, 2008). I wonder why there hasn't been a public demand for better assessments. I wonder if it's because people just accept what is out there as the norm. I wonder if they just haven't thought about it. I wonder what would happen if more people start finding out more accurate assessments do exist and they are just not being administered for whatever reason. I don't think that the lack of public demand for better assessments is because they don't want better assessments. I think that everyone wants what's best and they just don't know that something better already does exist.
If I hadn't been reading this book I wouldn't know that more accurate assessments already do exist. We are surrounded by an abundance of information and if we don't know the right questions to ask we won't know how to access valuable information. It's not that anyone is hiding anything from us. Everything is out in the open for everyone to find. We just need to learn to ask the right questions that will help us arrive at the type of information we need in order to continue to enhance our lives in every aspect.
Another connection I had to chapter 3 was when on page 114, Tony points out that a recent study discovered that a main reason students drop out of school is "will, not skill". When I read that part, the movie Stand and Deliver immediately came to mind! In the movie, the high school teacher, Jaime Escalante, constantly tells his students that they need to have "ganas" (will or desire). He was helping them develop their math skills, but without "ganas" they wouldn't go far. Somehow Jaime Escalante knew that success would require a lot more than just their math skills. He knew that "ganas" is really what would bring them home and now there's a study funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation that supports his belief!
Later in the chapter, Tony Wagner goes into great detail explaining all these wonderful assessments that do exist that measure our students skills more accurately than multiple choice exams. He does explain that they are a lot more expensive and take much longer to grade but that there are solutions to that, such as only administering those exams to a sample representative of the student population. Then he says that another reason that they haven't been administered is because "there has not yet been a public demand for better assessments" (Wagner, 2008). I wonder why there hasn't been a public demand for better assessments. I wonder if it's because people just accept what is out there as the norm. I wonder if they just haven't thought about it. I wonder what would happen if more people start finding out more accurate assessments do exist and they are just not being administered for whatever reason. I don't think that the lack of public demand for better assessments is because they don't want better assessments. I think that everyone wants what's best and they just don't know that something better already does exist.
If I hadn't been reading this book I wouldn't know that more accurate assessments already do exist. We are surrounded by an abundance of information and if we don't know the right questions to ask we won't know how to access valuable information. It's not that anyone is hiding anything from us. Everything is out in the open for everyone to find. We just need to learn to ask the right questions that will help us arrive at the type of information we need in order to continue to enhance our lives in every aspect.