Friday, September 3, 2010

Yong Zhao on how our global competitiveness will be damaged by the US government's imposition of high stakes testing

Just as the federal government has announced the awarding of $330 million to two consortiums so that they can develop new national exams, it is more important than ever that people check out this video of one of our best critics of high stakes testing, Yong Zhao.


Zhao is University Distinguished Professor of Education at Michigan State University, where he also serves as the founding director of the Center for Teaching and Technology as well as the US-China Center for Research on Educational Excellence. More on Prof. Zhao here and here.


He points out that China and other Asian countries are trying to move away from standardized testing, because it kills creativity and innovation, just as the US government is trying to impose it on schools throughout the country.


He also talks movingly about the importance of arts education and nurturing individual talents and resiliency, all of which are damaged by the monolithic emphasis on high stakes testing.



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1 comment:

  1. AnonymousSeptember 3, 2010 at 1:20 PM

    I taught in Japan for a year and was astounded by the ignorance of young Japanese to some very basic information about the world. These were well educated Japanese but their education had been so narrow and focused that they knew virtually nothing about other areas outside their studies. It was eye-opening as to how important a liberal arts education is to helping us become well-rounded people.

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