FTA: The 45- to 70-minute test, administered last March, asked students to support or refute the following statement, known as a prompt: "Television may have a negative impact on learning."

Well... Ummm... Go at it.

/ducks

Tr0mBoNe: FTA: The 45- to 70-minute test, administered last March, asked students to support or refute the following statement, known as a prompt: "Television may have a negative impact on learning."

Well... Ummm... Go at it.

/ducks

I learned about evolution on TV; my school did not teach it. Therefore, TV has at least one positive benefit upon learning. However, the topic statement is analytically structured as a universal positive since it is physically impossible to prove that TV has a neutral or positive benefit for all people in all situations. It is thus pointless to argue the topic as presented.

Further, please define learning- as if it is simply the raw accumulation of data then TV always has a positive impact upon anyone with memory retention. TV may affect the rate of or capacity for retention though.

Signed,
Your faithful students

State Education Commissioner Susan Gendron and her staff say the one-question test was somehow flawed because 78 percent of the estimated 14,900 eighth-graders who took the exam failed to write a persuasive essay as required.



not surprising. we don't teach critical thinking skills, history is more of a semester of teacher op-ed, and our culture disdains mathmatics, chemistry, physics and computer science. It's not surprising at all to find out that kids aren't reading anymore.

Weaver95: State Education Commissioner Susan Gendron and her staff say the one-question test was somehow flawed because 78 percent of the estimated 14,900 eighth-graders who took the exam failed to write a persuasive essay as required.



not surprising. we don't teach critical thinking skills, history is more of a semester of teacher op-ed, and our culture disdains mathmatics, chemistry, physics and computer science. It's not surprising at all to find out that kids aren't reading anymore.

B! No... 14! Wait I know this one... The War of 1812!

Tr0mBoNe: B! No... 14! Wait I know this one... The War of 1812!

you're a dumbass. that clearly needed a true/false reply, so the answer is obviously 'penguin'

I wish I could see the humor in this situation, but I can't laugh this one off. As a society, we're becoming more and more authoritarian and less able to think for ourselves.

Example - just yesterday, there was an accident right at the intersection. The cops were there, they were cleaning it up, writing reports, blah blah. None of them were directing traffic. There was a lane clear....but the normal right hand 'through traffic' lane was closed because of the accident. Now - any normal, clear thinking adult would have just stayed in the left lane, waited for the light to change and then gone straight through the intersection. The cops certainly assumed that's what would happen - and by and large, that's what everyone was doing......however, some slobbering idiot in a $30,000 lexus gets to the light and they freeze solid. the signs say 'turn left'...but they want to go straight....but they can't go straight....they're in the left hand lane.....so they freeze solid. they spend 20...farking....minutes....sitting there. the light cycles through 4 times. traffic is backed up for god only knows how long now. The only reason we're not still sitting there is because one cop walks over to this moron, taps on their window and tells them to ignore the posted traffic sign and just go forward through the intersection once it's safe. And then he stands there and has to POINT OUT when it's safe to go.

So obviously, it's not just kids that can't adapt to even slightly different situations. we've got parents who can't even figure out how to get through an intersection if something is even remotely different or changed because of weather or circumstances.

And then there's this bit:

In a rare move, Maine's Department of Education found the test results inconclusive, and withheld them from school districts and the media when it released the latest Maine Educational Assessment scores in July.



So if the test was flawed, why withold the results? post them up, say the test might have been iffy and that a review was underway. hiding the results looks like you've got something to hide, not to mention that it's illegal to do so (or against policy, at any rate).

i dun git y dis iz so sUpRiZiNg.

i no sum1 hoo past tho! my bff jill.

Weaver95: And then there's this bit:

In a rare move, Maine's Department of Education found the test results inconclusive, and withheld them from school districts and the media when it released the latest Maine Educational Assessment scores in July.



So if the test was flawed, why withold the results? post them up, say the test might have been iffy and that a review was underway. hiding the results looks like you've got something to hide, not to mention that it's illegal to do so (or against policy, at any rate).

They didn't release the test for the same reason you wouldn't release a statistical poll if you realized you asked skewed questions. The question they asked really does imply a negative only response. The inclusion of the word "may" implies that you can only persuade in the negative direction, since, logically, you would have to prove there is no negative in order to persuade in the positive direction.

However, they also messed up in who they were dealing with. They essentially trolled high school students. Your example of the adult in traffic is an excellent anecdote to the notion that the gray area of rules takes years to learn. Some people never quite pick up on it. A rational adult would look at that question and go well, you have a logic error in your topic, but TV can do some good and it can do some bad. They might even choose to say it is overall good or overall bad. But high school students are in the middle of socialization. We are still training them to conform to the general application of society. They are also at the stage when they begin to realize that you shouldn't conform to every aspect of society.

Now certainly they should have made their arguments a little bit more classy than "this question is bullshiat," but that really is a deference to the fact that language in general is not the gift of most people. Especially those in which it is not imposed upon by their parents.

Not to say that are education system isn't junky, but those test results don't prove anything.

sloppy shoes

You have clearly never watched Teletubbies. You can actually feel your brain turning to mush and leaking out through your ears.

oldebayer: sloppy shoes

You have clearly never watched Teletubbies. You can actually feel your brain turning to mush and leaking out through your ears.

I'm not saying tv is good or bad; I'm saying the question they asked is flawed.

Teletubbies was designed to teach motor skills. You have motor skills. JoJos circus is the way to go.

Kids should be able to write gooder than that.

oldebayer: sloppy shoes

You have clearly never watched Teletubbies. You can actually feel your brain turning to mush and leaking out through your ears.

That's why I watch Teletubbies.

"Blah blah blah... people are stupid and let computers and others who actually care do the hard work, then when it's time for them to do something for themselves they fark up. Big surprise.

That's why alcohol is so popular among people who actually try to better themselves. Eventually we are forced to be around these farkups.

yet if you complain about lazy, apathetic or just plain inept hypocrites then you are "rocking the boat" rather than POINTING OUT A GLARINGLY OBVIOUS PROBLEM.

Welcome to America.

The MEAs are pretty lame. I remember the last round I took, which was when I was in 10th grade I believe, and I found a question to preposterous that I skipped it. I couldn't even write a valid response, I was just too dumbstruck by it.

What was the question. The premise was that I was a director and that I needed to come up with a interpretive dance presentation on Martin Luthor King Jr's life. All I could picture in my head was the inevitable *guy dancing while holding a gun* moment... Ugh...

I just found it so silly that I skipped it. I still did great on the test, so I guess it wasn't like this situation. Of course, they've probably seriously revamped it since the late 90s.

What do you do when 78% of your students fail the state writing test?

Simple. Reward 22% for not being dumbasses.

I teach (taught) college writing and I could watch the precipitous decline in basic skills grow worse and worse each year.

Now we can't start to teach them to write because they completely lack basic skills.

Hence the past tense. I don't teach writing anymore.

No tv and no beer make Homer something something

Rhames: No tv and no beer make Homer something something

Go CRAZY?

Crown_of_Shoes: I teach (taught) college writing and I could watch the precipitous decline in basic skills grow worse and worse each year.

Now we can't start to teach them to write because they completely lack basic skills.

Hence the past tense. I don't teach writing anymore.

Is it because more people are going to college than before, or do you think it's cause we just have failed at education?

/curious.

GBmanNC: Rhames: No tv and no beer make Homer something something

Go CRAZY?

DON'T MIND IF I DO...

Inconclusive?

I do not think word means what you think it means.

Weaver95: And then there's this bit:

In a rare move, Maine's Department of Education found the test results inconclusive, and withheld them from school districts and the media when it released the latest Maine Educational Assessment scores in July.



So if the test was flawed, why withold the results? post them up, say the test might have been iffy and that a review was underway. hiding the results looks like you've got something to hide, not to mention that it's illegal to do so (or against policy, at any rate).

They have posted results, 78% failed therefore the test failed. They are not going to give individuals and schools the results of a failed test because it is not an accurate reflection of teachers and students.

They will investigate either if the question and fact sheet made the question confusing or if the curriculum needs to be changed to develop better persuasive writing skills.

Weaver95:
Example - just yesterday, there was an accident right at the intersection. The cops were there, they were cleaning it up, writing reports, blah blah. None of them were directing traffic. There was a lane clear....but the normal right hand 'through traffic' lane was closed because of the accident. Now - any normal, clear thinking adult would have just stayed in the left lane, waited for the light to change and then gone straight through the intersection. The cops certainly assumed that's what would happen - and by and large, that's what everyone was doing......however, some slobbering idiot in a $30,000 lexus gets to the light and they freeze solid. the signs say 'turn left'...but they want to go straight....but they can't go straight....they're in the left hand lane.....so they freeze solid. they spend 20...farking....minutes....sitting there. the light cycles through 4 times. traffic is backed up for god only knows how long now. The only reason we're not still sitting there is because one cop walks over to this moron, taps on their window and tells them to ignore the posted traffic sign and just go forward through the intersection once it's safe. And then he stands there and has to POINT OUT when it's safe to go.


Do you see this as purely a consequence of stupidity? Or is this stupidity a direct result of an overly authoritarian society? I can imagine a rational person, for example, noting that he would like to travel straight through an intersection, but also noting that there are officers of the law right next to him, who might write him a ticket for going straight in a turn-only lane.

Of course, if it were me and these things were going through my mind, I would opt to turn in the turn lane, and would then re-enter the intersection, instead of just sitting there like a jackass while the lights cycled several times.

Where's Ralph Wiggum?

Many of you are missing the point.

The idea was to test their ability to write, using a well-reasoned presentation of information. The specific topic is irrelevant. In fact, the exam gave them the option of either supporting OR REFUTING the statement about TV, with fact lists to support both sides.

TFA: "They reacted emotionally, spouted a bit, and did not use the fact sheet information to support their argument."

The test was not flawed. The students were flawed.

/I wander what their Fark handles are

Has anyone considered a Maine tag?

"Especially those in which it is not imposed upon by their parents."

To wit

Bermuda59: Where's Ralph Wiggum?

Wrapped up in his portable electronics.

Weaver95: State Education Commissioner Susan Gendron and her staff say the one-question test was somehow flawed because 78 percent of the estimated 14,900 eighth-graders who took the exam failed to write a persuasive essay as required.



not surprising. we don't teach critical thinking skills, history is more of a semester of teacher op-ed, and our culture disdains mathmatics, chemistry, physics and computer science. It's not surprising at all to find out that kids aren't reading anymore.

As usual, Weavers unthinking opinionated reactionary drivel is not based on any actual day to day reality.

Children and young adults are super-saturated with text and text based information, far more than any generation prior. They forget and discard more than you have ever learned.

IMing/texting, browsing, scrolling marquees and Harry Potter along with other literature and novels are being consumed with record speed and with record quantities.

How can you authoritatively critique a child's skills when you don't demonstrate any? You did not spell Mathematics correctly and you have a spell checker at your fingertips.

Chemistry, Physics and Computer Science? Those specific disciplines are where the United States of America's workforce and industry is light years ahead of the rest of the World.

Jack And Jill went up the hill each with a buck and a quarter, jill came down with 2.50 that faking whore

//I can has diploma now?

I think it should be called the Maine Educational Aptitude Test. Then it will be called the MEAT. That way, when a student takes it, they can be asked, "Did you beat the MEAT?"

See, I have writing skills.

Congratulations. You are part of the 22% who can actually read and write.

What a shame that the 78% who can't even write a simple essay control your life, because denying anyone the vote would be elitist.

Who is more stupid?

/you see where I am
//guess why

Son of Thunder: Many of you are missing the point.

The idea was to test their ability to write, using a well-reasoned presentation of information. The specific topic is irrelevant. In fact, the exam gave them the option of either supporting OR REFUTING the statement about TV, with fact lists to support both sides.

TFA: "They reacted emotionally, spouted a bit, and did not use the fact sheet information to support their argument."

The test was not flawed. The students were flawed.

/I wander what their Fark handles are

That's the point though. The test was flawed. They reacted emotionally because they are young. If I asked you to write a persuasive essay about the following topic: "Hitler was a great leader," and I gave you the following two facts to use: "Hitler lowered inflation" and "Many German people supported Hitler."

Now, obviously this is an extreme hyperbole. And it's not intended as a Godwin. The point is that there was a significant question bias imposed upon an immature population. Go read about how they write questions for statistical polls. It's very complicated.

For that matter, the students did overreact and it does show pertitent information about their maturity and their inability to think above and beyond their emotional opinions, but that doesn't validate the test.

"Me fail English? That's unpossible!"

/Can't believe it took so long...

Well, it's Maine. Maine isn't exactly known for producing great literature.


From the article:
"I've never seen test results pulled like this," Lafavore said.

Tom sat at his desk, staring at the manila folder which had contained the mimeographed sheets of paper. Why did I have to open it now? Why couldn't I have waited 'til tomorrow? And, like a bolt of lightning, the reply came. You know why, Tommy! You've always known!--
Tom put his head in his hands. He bit his lip to keep from crying out.
You know, Tommy! You Know youknowyouknowyouknow--
"Leave me alone," Tom whispered. He stared at the wall in front of him, but it wasn't the wall he saw. He wasn't Tom Lefavore, Director of educational Planning, any more. Now he was little "Tommy Lefavorite", eight years old, staring down at the white hands of Mister Grainger, the school janitor, who lay dead on the shore of the Old Mill pond.
White hands. An old man's dead white hands. That moved!
You know, Tommy! Youknowyouknow--
Tommy Lefavorite, teacher's pet, killed a man and what did he get--
"They didn't move. He was dead," Tommy spoke to his empty office. He was surprised at the lack of comfort his own voice gave him.
"He was dead when I got there," Tommy said, "No way could he have been alive, no freakin way."
Tommy--where'd he go? Where's the body, son?
--Tommy Lefavorite--
--Youknowyouknowyouknow--
"Stop it," Tommy whispered. He knew that Old Man Grainger had been dead for days when he found him. The remembered the high, sweet smell of decay, the buzzing of the flies, the maggots that crawled beneath the dead skin, making it appear to move.
That's all it was, the bugs, the filthy, damn bugs
There was a knock at Tom's office door.
Tom felt the warm gush as his bladder let go.

State Education Commissioner Susan Gendron and her staff say the one-question test was somehow flawed because 78 percent of the estimated 14,900 eighth-graders who took the exam failed to write a persuasive essay as required.

That's a 50 percent increase, over 2006-07 in the number of eighth-graders who failed to meet or only partially met state writing standards.

I bow to no one in my disdain for the quality of education these days, but a 50% increase year-over-year is indicative of something going fundamentally wrong with the test or the process. I don't believe that you would get that kind of catastrophic variance under normal circumstances.

malibupetey: Chemistry, Physics and Computer Science? Those specific disciplines are where the United States of America's workforce and industry is light years ahead of the rest of the World.

Ha. Ha. Ha. Wait...do you live in Bizarro World? Because that's the only place where American kids outpace the Japanese, Koreans, and most of Northern Europe in Chemistry, Physics, OR Comp Sci. The teachers were never taught it adequately, so they don't teach it adequately. And don't even get me started on Math.

JadeGL: The MEAs are pretty lame. I remember the last round I took, which was when I was in 10th grade(NEEDS A COMMA) I believe, and I found a question to too preposterous that I skipped it. I couldn't even write a valid response, I was just too dumbstruck by it. Run-on sentence. Separate independent clauses with a semi-colon or period, please.

What was the question.(?) The premise was that I was a director and that I needed to come up with a an interpretive dance presentation on Martin Luthor Luther King Jr's life. All I could picture in my head was the inevitable *guy dancing while holding a gun* moment... Ugh...

I just found it so silly that I skipped it. I still did great on the test, so I guess it wasn't like this situation. Of course, they've probably seriously revamped it since the late 90s.

I don't think the problem was the test, kid.

1-Because kids are f'ing retarded these days. 2-They don't give a crap about school. Too focused on their appearance and having all the fun in the world. 3-The parents see school as a day care. They don't give a crap about it until parent/teacher conference time comes around and they see a bunch of D's and C's.

Moonfisher: I don't think the problem was the test, kid.

Why do I get the feeling that you teach school? Kids are kids. No less or more intelligent than they have ever been. It is the educational system that is screwed up, not the kids.

Overall, less than 23 percent of eighth-graders who took the test last spring met or exceeded state writing standards, down from 48 percent in 2006-07, indicated a report from Measured Progress. That's a 52 percent decrease

Can we just bottom-line this and admit an unpleasant truth here: THE MOVIE, "IDIOCRACY" IS COMING TRUE. I swear, that movie scares me everytime I see it.

Maddogjew: Moonfisher: I don't think the problem was the test, kid.

Why do I get the feeling that you teach school? Kids are kids. No less or more intelligent than they have ever been. It is the educational system that is screwed up, not the kids.

I don't teach school. I never said the lack of education was the fault of the children. It's the fault of crapass schools and uninvolved parents. Period. I was simply pointing out the irony of a post that ridiculed a writing test whilst being so poorly written itself.

Frostbitpenguin: Do you see this as purely a consequence of stupidity? Or is this stupidity a direct result of an overly authoritarian society? I can imagine a rational person, for example, noting that he would like to travel straight through an intersection, but also noting that there are officers of the law right next to him, who might write him a ticket for going straight in a turn-only lane.

except that the driver in question had ample opportunity to see AT LEAST several drivers go around the accident and proceed through the intersection. So they knew - they HAD to know - that it was possible to follow the rest of the pack.

But they didn't. They got right up to the intersection....and froze. They just couldn't do it. They knew that they could go around the blockage, but something in their brain wouldn't let them do it. I cannot imagine the kind of mindset that represents. They're so mindlessly and hopelessly dependant on 'the rules' that they cannot adapt even with an example right in front of them.

Of course, if it were me and these things were going through my mind, I would opt to turn in the turn lane, and would then re-enter the intersection, instead of just sitting there like a jackass while the lights cycled several times.

The kicker is that it would have been bone simple stupid to have done just that as well. there was a very easy place to turn around right after the turn. And it was legal to do so there as well.

Our society is becoming full of people who CANNOT adapt. if faced with the need to go around or avoid even simple rules....they shut down, their brains lock up. They cannot even conceive of how to adapt when necessary. They Follow Authority, without question and without remorse.

that scares the crap outta me.

10 sec rule applies to pudding too: 1-Because kids are f'ing retarded these days. 2-They don't give a crap about school. Too focused on their appearance and having all the fun in the world. 3-The parents see school as a day care. They don't give a crap about it until parent/teacher conference time comes around and they see a bunch of D's and C's.

I don't think the problem is that kids are more or less intelligent than they were. I think the problem is we now care about educating every child. 100 years ago, poor people were not expected to be educated. Now they are. That's also the problem colleges are facing. Many more people are now going to college than ever were before. This lowers what you can say about the average college graduate.

/And our system of lower education was meant to socialize, not really educate. There is a reason why there are many more successful systems out there. Further, we allow too much capitalism to take place. Education should be socialized. At this point, every textbook that is written should be free, online, and provided to schools. If you are a notable college professor, you should be required to write one as a public service. And, since they will be open source, people will be free to expand and make them more entertaining and readable. With more and better examples.

//But we don't want to actually fix education.

Regnad Kcin: Well, it's Maine. Maine isn't exactly known for producing great literature.

Stephen King FTW motherfarker!

Weaver95: State Education Commissioner Susan Gendron and her staff say the one-question test was somehow flawed because 78 percent of the estimated 14,900 eighth-graders who took the exam failed to write a persuasive essay as required.



not surprising. we don't teach critical thinking skills, history is more of a semester of teacher op-ed, and our culture disdains mathematics, chemistry, physics and computer science. It's not surprising at all to find out that kids aren't reading anymore.

You make me do this to you!

Selfabortion: Stephen King FTW motherfarker!

Stephen King, while competent enough with writing novels, is hardly an example of great literature.

/still pissed about The Dark Tower's ending

Moonfisher: crapass

I believe this should be hyphenated (crap-ass).