Exam Time Creates Stress Between Parent & Child

Dear Dr. Fournier: I have just received my son’s achievement test scores. I am in shock. My son has been reading since before he started school. Reading has always been one of his best subjects. He is always reading and saying he is going to be a doctor. Now he cannot go to the school for good students because of his score in reading comprehension. Next year he will go to a middle school that is a mess – guns, sex, knives, cursing. He is scared of going there. He is an A student. What can I do?

The Assessment: Teachers absolutely work themselves to death preparing students to take achievement tests, but in reading all they can do is hope that the content of the reading passages isn’t intended for suburban higher socioeconomic kids who get to learn not just through school but by the vocabulary their educated parents use, the trips they can take, the camps they attend, the extracurricular activities their parents can pay for, weekends at the lake house, water skiing, and the computer and internet access they have allowing for seeing and reading about the world over – and that’s just the short list of advantages many suburban children have. Most children do not have these advantages and yet both sets of children are measured by the same test without regard to how affluence or lack of it affects learning.

There is no better synopsis of this horrible injustice than that written by E.D. Hirsch Jr. this past March 23, 2009 in The New York Times. “These much maligned, fill-in-the-bubble reading tests are technically among the most reliable and valid tests available. The problem is that the reading passages used in these tests are random. They are not aligned with explicit grade-by-grade content standards. Children are asked to read and then answer multiple-choice questions about such topics as taking a hike in the Appalachians even though they’ve never left the sidewalks of New York, nor studied the Appalachians in school.” http://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/23/opinion/23hirsch.html

The result of such tainted tests, which favor the “haves” and penalize the “have-nots” should not be accepted or taken lightly.

What To Do: Take a copy of Hirsch’s article to the person in charge of setting policy as to who gets into the better school. All too often these programs continue to be lily white while the leftovers are for the rest of the colors. Notify your school board and if need be the NAACP and your newspaper. Insist on your child’s report card to be taken as proof of his intellectual ability. He needs no further testing unless the school board wants to infer that your son’s teachers gave him his grades.

Standardized testing continues to be the only measure that our antiquated school systems use to determine the value of a mind. Whatever you do, do not give up. If the public school system chooses to embarrass itself by its ignorance and moral ineptitude, then go to private schools and ask for a scholarship. Search for a charter school, or find out if your district has a plan based on parents’ choice. Be the first one to apply.

Everyone reading this column, please write to Secretary of Education Arne Duncan and tell him to quit spending money on tests that serve to keep the poor in schools of cognitive oppression. I am sure he will, during a speech or any suitable opportunity, put forth the token few that get through to the “good” schools. May his conscience move him to get his head out of the sand called standardized tests. He will hold the future of our children and country hostage if he continues to take away our children’s hopes, rendering them helpless while purporting to educate them.

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Tags: Standardized Tests

Uniforms or Dress Code Teach Reasons, Respect

May 19, 2009 12:00 PM

Dear Dr. Fournier: Should all children have to wear the same uniform to school or should they be allowed to dress individually as long as they follow a standard dress code?

The Assessment: In our work life, we all have different roles that define what we do for those we serve. People who focus on carrying out their responsibilities with excellence, initiative, and innovation do so based on service to others, not on how they look.

Most working adults either have a uniform or a dress code that intends to guarantee the employee physical and emotional safety needed for themselves and from others to concentrate cognitively on their job. Examples include a pilot who wears a uniform that designates authority and trust; a surgeon who wears pajama-like medical attire for comfort, yet it is sterile for health and safety reasons; and tellers in a bank, who generally follow the “banker’s blue” dress code including closed-toed shoes for women, even though most of us don’t see a teller’s feet.

We all have the choice of wearing the politically correct social attire for what we do in our private lives. For example, when you get an invitation that says “Black-tie,” women know to wear a dark or black formal or semi-formal dress while men know to wear a formal black suit, even with a bow tie rather than a standard tie. If the invitation says “Causal,” or “Business Casual,” that may mean beach clothes if it is to a pool party or khaki pants and a polo shirt for men and a sundress for women if it is a corporate party.

Finally, there are social norms that we learn from parents or intuitively as we grow. Examples include how we dress when we go to church, a graduation ceremony, or a park festival. We know they are different, yet within each category, each place has its dress code.

The idea that clothes are to be used as a way for children and adolescents to develop individuality is a poor excuse for not teaching children that attire has to do with those they serve or care for. On too many occasions, children brought up to use attire to develop individuality end up believing that what they want is more important than following the guidelines of what is considered respectful.

I have been to formal weddings where men showed up in blue jeans, a Bar Mitzvah where girls bared their midriff, a graduation where the graduates dressed as if they were heading out to a nightclub, and a church where some girls go in shorts that are almost non-existent. I once had a prospective employee show up to his interview in flip-flops and clothes that should be in the washer.

Some may read this and say this is their prerogative. While true, your attire should not speak louder than your intelligence.

As for dress codes or required uniforms, students – in the name of individuality – are constantly try to cross the lines. It really does not matter whether a school has a uniform or a dress code. It does matter that we teach them why it matters.

What To Do: Starting as early as possible, every parent and school should hold themselves responsible for teaching our youth that their bodies talk, and once their bodies speak, what your body says will be, “I command respect by giving respect.” That includes wearing a uniform or following a dress code.

It is amazing how students will follow the rules when they understand the reason for them. For example, in my Day School, students are not allowed to wear rubber flip-flops because of the chance they get caught on the carpet and someone ends up on the floor face down with no front teeth. Boys do not wear earrings because they are expected to dazzle the world with their mind and not with their earlobes.

Personally, I prefer uniforms. When I was required to wear one in ninth grade, I thought I belonged because of my mind power and not because of what I wore.

The development of individuality should be about respect for self and for others – not disrespect. This is the most important rule of attire: A school dress code or uniform is intended to keep your MIND on your MIND, not “How can I outwit the rule today to flaunt my body instead.”

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Tags: System

SAT/ACT Guideline Refresh

May 12, 2009 12:00 PM

Dear Dr. Fournier: I have told my 7th grade son that he must start now to get a scholarship and go to college. I have these guidelines from Princeton Review. What do you think of them?

Princeton Review Guidelines:
Freshmen: Relax! You've got plenty of time. Freshman year should be about focusing on your studies, building your GPA, joining clubs, and figuring out what activities you like.
Sophomores: You've got some time before you have to get into intensive prep. Continue to focus on taking challenging classes, and consider taking SAT Subject Tests that correspond with your AP subjects. Also, take a practice SAT or ACT in the spring, and think about an SAT or ACT course.
Juniors: We recommend SAT or ACT prep in the summer, winter or the spring, depending on what works best with your school schedule. Juniors should consider taking the SAT/ACT by March/February (or sooner) of junior year, for the most stress-free timeline.
Seniors: You may already be done with the SAT or ACT, but then don't lose sight of the bigger picture: You need to complete scholarship applications and talk financial shop with your parents. Work on your applications, and follow up with your teachers about recommendations.

The Assessment: The Princeton Review schedule is well over a decade old and unfortunately, no longer adequate.

Eighth grade is the new “Freshman” year of high school. As such, I strongly recommend your son get moving in the eighth grade.

Getting into college with a scholarship will require him to not only have a good ACT or SAT, but to also demonstrate he is worthy -- a decisive, self-reliant, self-directed student that intends to be a leader in the future. That starts now, not in his junior and senior year of high school.

What To Do: Seventh grade: In English begin your transition from formal to academic language. Recognize the difference and become versed in the latter – reading and writing.

Take pre-algebra. In the summer, get the text for algebra I and complete it. Go into algebra I with a foundation for eighth grade. Take physical science or biology in eighth grade and pick an international language and make sure you can converse in it.

Eighth grade: Write down the subjects you will take in each year of high school. Once you have completed algebra I, get a practice book for the ACT and PSAT. As early as tenth grade, you can take practice tests in these (PLAN and PSAT, respectively) and decide which one of these tests you wish to pursue to enter college. I prefer the ACT. The rest of the test is academic language in English. The scientific reasoning on the ACT is a “reasoning test” that happens to use science. It is to see if you know how to read charts, use data, and come to valid conclusions. It is about how well you think and not about how much science you know. Ask the publishing company to send you your answers as well as a copy of the test you took. Highlight your correct questions and then learn the ones you missed.

Also in eighth grade, write the name of five colleges that you believe are best for your current career goals, knowing these may change. Call the admissions office and ask for the average grade point average of their entering freshman and average ACT or SAT score. Then ask what is needed for a scholarship. Set your goals for your grade point average at graduation and the ACT or SAT score you will aim for. Write the grade you will need in each of your courses in high school to achieve your GPA. Place this where you are able to see it daily. It is your scorecard to your future.

Begin taking your ACT or SAT in the summer before your senior year. That will give you more opportunities to retake the exam if you need to increase your score.

Finally, instead of taking AP courses to get out of taking college courses, insist in your junior year and senior year on taking dual enrollment courses in a college near you. AP courses teach you how to take a test. College courses teach you college courses! Don’t waste your high school time on electives that have the reputation of being worthless. Use your time in high school to learn what adds value to your life.

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Tags: Standardized Tests

Hassle-Free Homework^{^®}

Dr. Yvonne Fournier :: Article Archive 2009

Exam Time Creates Stress Between Parent & Child

Mom Blowing Comment Out Of Proportion?

College Students Do Not Lack Concentration

Take A Business Approach To Conferences

How Much Freedom Should They Have?

Tainted Standardized Tests

Uniforms or Dress Code Teach Reasons, Respect

SAT/ACT Guideline Refresh

Hassle-Free Homework®

Dr. Yvonne Fournier :: Article Archive 2009

Hassle-Free Homework^{^®}