“Proficiency test” has become an oxymoron. Politicians who know nothing about education invented it to remove the stress of providing adequate and equitable funding for education.
According to the Sandusky Register, the State Board of Education is removing the writing and social studies components from the 4th grade Ohio Achievement Assessment. This will save the state $30 million, but what does that say about our goals in increasing educational levels in this state? This comes at a time when Ohio students did worse in social studies than any other subject. Teaching youngsters about the world around them can start dangerous trends, like caring about others and developing empathy.
The educational mission has always been the “three R’s — readin’, ritin’ and ‘rithmetic.” I guess politicians in the capitol feel we can get along with just two R’s, “readin’ and ‘rithmetic.” Another cost-cutter being discussed is the elimination of teaching cursive writing.
When I heard about this, interesting visuals came to mind, one being notes from kids resembling ransom notes, using letters cut out of newspapers and magazines instead of being written in cursive. This radical restructuring of the curriculum is being proposed in light of the widespread use of computers and word processing programs that have changed the way we “don’t write” to communicate with each other: e-mails, texting, Tweeting and anything other than writing in long hand.
I am as guilty as the next on this departure from a classical and beautiful form of expression. I am one of those right-brained and left-handed people who had their knuckles smacked repeatedly to force me to change to being a left-brained and right-handed person. Naturally I resisted, sore knuckles and all, but I learned to write passably for a leftie.
An aunt of my wife’s had beautiful handwriting. I actually looked forward to getting a note from her on our anniversaries and birthdays for it was a work of art, containing a little poem written on the flap of the envelope and a wonderful message inside. This is a dying form, and the state is prepared to give it a lethal injection to send it on its way to oblivion. What will the long-term impact of these measures be in the future?
How can we educate if we eliminate the foundations of education? Again, the state is looking for a quick and cheap answer. In education, nothing good is either quick or cheap.
What kind of message does this send to the world? In Asia, there are many countries that have several written languages; for example, Japan has three written languages: Konchi, Hilagana and Katakana, a total of 2,600 characters. Their students master three distinct written languages by eighth grade, and we are thinking about eliminating our classic written form that uses a 26-letter alphabet from the curriculum to save money?
This is the result of consumer-based educational planning that is flawed from the beginning. Consumers have to have an educational foundation to make educated choices. That cannot happen when such a foundation is chipped away to save money and keep taxes low for the rich.
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