Dick,
> I wouldn't either. I'm not sure that you can go and get an education anymore.
> ...
> Back when I was in high school, a score of 800 on one or the other of the
> SAT's was a rare event that didn't occur every year in a school system in a
> city of half-a-million or so. Nowadays, with the obviously much-lowered
> standards, it happens all the time.
I really don't see how this follows. Students are scoring higher on standardized
exams, thus the standards must "obviously" be much-lowered.
Without having proof to the contrary, Occam's Razor would suggest that the explanation
to higher overall scores on standardized tests would simply be "a better overall
quality of education today". After all, if students are learning more and
thus scoring higher on standardized tests, well, what more does that mean than
that the standardized tests are doing what they are designed for (as demographic tools)
and are representative of the increase in students' learning?
Without proof, we cannot assume either way. So if you would like to
make an argument about education quality in the US today, back it up with facts,
otherwise it just sounds like "In my day" geezer-ranting.
--
Ryan Underwood, <nemesis at icequake.net>, icq=10317253
Received on Mon Apr 22 2002 - 17:05:45 BST