Education Hell-Rhetoric Vs. Reality

I ran a cross a review of this book, Education Hell-Rhetoric Vs. Reality by Gerald Bracey that affirms what I have been telling readers about the gross error and injustice sustained in American education by our emphasis on standardized testing. I want to thank teacherken for his review.

According to Bracey, "We measure what we can and come to value what is measured over what is not. In doing so we throw away most of education." And with it, the lives and futures of our children.

Bracey offers a list of personal qualities that we either don't use tests to measure and for the most part can't use tests to measure and thus completely ignore:

Peace
Creativity
Critical thinking
Resilience
Motivation
Persistence
Curiosity
Inquisitiveness
Endurance
Reliability
Enthusiasm
Civic-mindedness
Self-Awareness
Self-discipline
Leadership
Compassion
Empathy
Courage
Imagination
Sense of Humor
Resourcefulness
Humility

What Bracey told us in this last book published before his recent death is that we are making a terrible mess of American education.

On a related topic, NPR this morning had a segment on the relationship between brain function and exercise. Can you guess? Is there a relationship between physical exercise and the functioning of your brain? For some of us, that question is a no-brainer. We don't have to think very hard about it. But as schools have become more insistent on teaching to the test, Phys ed and recess are two areas that aren't acknowledged as having educational value. If you are one of those lucky enough to have been educated during the time in which the value of recess was understood, you will remember from personal experience, the difference between heaven and the hell to which Bracey refers.