Robotic

"So how do you respond to critics and naysayers who believe that people who choose to be teachers know less or are less competent than those who choose to be scientists or historians or mathematicians? You've heard sentiments such as this, right?"

They all nodded, but stared at me blankly.

I tried again. "So what do you say to them?"

Finally, a student offered, "We're experts because we passed a test. It shows that we're highly-qualified."

"You're an expert because you passed a test?" I asked, a bit incredulously.

"Well, yeah, it shows that we know the content." Several students nodded their heads in agreement.

But a fellow student disagreed. "That test really just acts as a waiver. You don't even need a degree in the subject you want to teach. You can just pass the test."

This conversation then led to a larger conversation about testing, particularly of K-12 students. And most of what I heard from my students were canned sound bites that I hear repeated in the news and from Arne Duncan.

They were also trying to tell me that it was rather impossible to get into secondary classrooms to do their observation hours because of all the testing.

"So you're telling me that they are testing kids from now until the end of May?"

They just shrugged their shoulders.

"What the heck are they testing them on then?"

Again, they just shrugged their shoulders.

"Well, Naomi, how do you know if teachers are doing their jobs if you don't test kids?"

And I countered, "So what is exactly is your job? And don't tell me that it's just to get kids to pass tests."

The blank stares returned. Exasperated, and realizing that I didn't want to reach the pinnacle of my soap box on the first night of class, I said, "Well, I guess my job this semester is to help you come up with a better retort to your naysayers and critics, because right now, telling them that you've passed a test so you can help kids pass a test isn't going to cut it in my world."

Later, I realized that the students who sit in my classes, students who want to be teachers, have grown up in an educational world completely hinged on testing and results. They've never known a different way. They don't even think to question whether this is the way that things should be, and this reality freaks me out a bit.

I now need to figure out what to do about it.