About Education

Wednesday, April 16, 2014

Off the Beaten Path...     Anyone who is thinking about entering college or who has a kid thinking about entering college knows what the SAT and ACT are all about...OR....do they? Both the SAT and ACT are NOT a test of intelligence! They are designed to be a very powerful indicator of the likelihood of a person's ability to start AND finish a college curriculum. In other words, an indicator of an ability of the test taker to obtain a college degree.

As you may know SAT and ACT scores have been dropping for US educated children. Recently, the owners of the SAT, the College Board, decided to adjust the test to different standards, most notably to return to standards of years ago.

To me this is a meaningless act. Why, you may ask? Because, in my view, the SAT and ACT both measure mostly irrelevant information and always have. Albeit, a college entrance examination should measure whether some level of information has been attained and retained by an applicant for college entrance, but an indicator of success in college in order to be accurate has to go much further.

I am suggesting that higher education shakers and movers ought to completely re-examine the basis on which decisions are made for acceptance in the halls of college. I believe that the real determinants of student success in higher learning are as follows:

SENSE OF PURPOSE...Do I really appreciate the opportunity of higher education and the doors that it will open for me as I pursue a means to make a contribution to society instead of becoming a drag on it?
CHARACTER...Can I get "knocked-down" in life and get right back up to start over using the experience of disappointment as an energizer instead of a reason for further disappointment?
INTEGRITY, HONESTY AND GRIT...Personality traits, personal values and attitudes compose the inner being of all people. How people conduct themselves in myriad circumstances are largely dependent on traits, values and attitudes.

Each of the foregoing characteristics CAN BE measured and assessed. Therefore, I suggest that a large portion of college entrance requirements should be based on the measurement and assessment of an individual's PURPOSE, CHARACTER and INTEGRITY.

MOST of the college failures (which are not measured and reported openly) are because of unacceptable grades. But, the grades are the symptom NOT the reason for most failures in college. The kids accepted into college are NOT stupid. The real reasons are a total lack of purpose, ie, Why am I here? Further, a lack of character...I have been knocked down in life and didn't know getting back up was an option. Finally, I am still in high school and I have brought the same attitudes and values with me...self reliance is a foreign term to me.

Don't agree with me? Okay, tell me why! But, first search out a parent of a kid who was a disappointment in college and ask what happened. Read about the drinking and social integration problems (read rape) in colleges. And, find out about other bad behaviors that are manifest on college campuses.

Regretfully, something failed the unsuccessful student. Probably, public schools, home life, street life or a combination of these factors. I have argued for years that the children who need it most are not taught about the things that count for a lot in life...attitudes, values, honesty, integrity and character, which when positive build a pathway to success, but when negative destroy any chance for opportunity and purpose.

My greatest worry is that some teachers took the time to instill the foregoing positive attributes in children through personal anecdotes, remembrances, and by other means. Now teachers are held to very strict content/subject matter attainment standards as per student testing. And, since the attributes I have suggested are nowhere to be found in the curriculum, the load falls on parents...you know home, where nearly 50% of black babies are born to a single mother, or where English is a distant second language or where discipline is unknown.