Jump to content

Today...


Leoo

Recommended Posts

The companies make these tests for pennies on the dollar, spend money to lobby and make sure the standardized tests stay, and pocket the funding that is provided for education. The cost of making a multiple-choice test for millions of students and recirculating the questions appropriately for randomness is low when you consider unit price.

 

For example, the test that plays a large role in determining whether/which colleges (in the sense of undergraduate education) here, the SAT, costs at least $50. But to be fair, this does include an essay portion that is read by humans in addition to multiple choice questions. They are paid per paper they read, and told to spend two minutes reading them. So they get $50 for four minutes of low-wage labor and running a sheet through a machine to scan the answers and score it. If you want the results of your test sent to more than a few schools, they will also charge you additional fees to sent that result and 50 cent envelope around too. When it's time for graduate school, there is another round of standardized testing which is even more (upwards of $100 I think) and is purely multiple choice.

 

So while the actual costs of such an operation should be low, the government/school system is ripped off into paying these corporations ludicrous contracts. It's no wonder Pearson, ETS, and other companies spend millions lobbying for it. You can search in Google to find any number of articles but here is one: http://www.prwatch.org/news/2015/03/12777/reporters-guide-how-pearson-ets-houghton-mifflin-and-mcgraw-hill-are-profiting .

"Fight for what you believe in, and believe in what you're fighting for." Can games be art?

---

 

 

cWCZMZO.png

l1M6sfb.png

My blog here if you want to check out my Times articles and other writings! I always appreciate comments/feedback.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

That's what I mean, presuming you are replying to me Arceus, schools are spending ridiculous amounts of money on the textbooks and other materials required by the standardized testing that they would be able to spend in different ways but they are forced to purchase them from specific sources driving costs way up. As someone in Grade 12 who could be on the line for $180+ if I lose a textbook that is probably over seven years old I can certainly understand the racket that comes with these materials.

 

As someone who looked at the SAT fees earlier this year, its kind of ridiculous what they charge and I'm thankful that the test isn't a requirement in Canada.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

There are pros and cons to standardize testing, but from my experience standardized testing doesn't* dictate a whole lot into the day-today besides ensuring that everyone is learning at an equal level. If anything the standards should be raised or modified to reflect diversity in education to reflect the needs of the entire student body. 

 

The most popular question that is asked to a minor: "What do you want to do/be?" 

 

The way the education system is currently setup, the vast majority of the population can't answer that question until their mid to late 20s. There isn't enough established to help our youth discover an early passion. 

Edited by stevepole
  • Like 3
tFtfA.jpg
Link to comment
Share on other sites

I know a girl that had a long distance relationship and naturally her and her bf skyped. She discovered that not only did she enjoy the intimacy with her boyfriend through that medium but that stripping made her feel sexy and powerful. So she decided that she wanted to do it professionally and is on a cam site for that and makes >$40k.

 

I think this example make your question and education reform meaningless because they will never account for people like this.

 

And I will make the claim that for most of us we have an event like this girl that makes us decide that we love one skill or another that we never couldve predicted beforehand.

Which sort of exemplifies just how inefficient and student-unfriendly the current education system is, if it doesn't account for an experience that 'most' people will have. That would make it more in need of reform, not less: it's basically just an archaic, useless, and downright damaging time sink that utterly fails at preparing students for the basic foundational courses it professes to teach, let alone anything meaningful. And while there are always those life-changing moments that can't be accounted for, it's currently set up in such a way that an experience that 'most' people will have makes the entire effort wasted.

 

Even the sorts of universal things that everyone can make use of are taught in such an esoteric way as to be both inflexible and useless, like you mentioned with middle-school algebra above, or things like the scientific method, or critical thinking, or what have you. I feel like I've learned more about the basic foundations of scientific theory from reading paleontology blogs than I have in 12 years of k-12 education. And I know non- native English speakers that write with more clarity than I did after being in the [bleep]ing IB program, because they write fanfiction regularly.

 

Any system that is less efficient at teaching than fanfiction deserves to be torn down on principle /s

 

And yes blah blah blah information age and the practice aspect of writing and hobbyists being able to pursue their interests at their own pace and everything else people are liable to use as counterpoints- yes. That's the point. You learn more about sentence structure and flow and subtext and motivation by actually writing it, not by reading Shakespeare. And learning that Darwin studied finches as the groundwork for the theory of evolution is not nearly as interesting as seeing those ideas in action and applied to real organisms, their evolutionary theories, and their place in the tree of life. The point is that these are all pretty basic things that our current education system is wholly unprepared to teach, in a way that is both engaging and involved than rote memorization.

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Spent 2 hours yesterday doing my taxes.

Only reason I spent that time is cause I earned most of my money from abroad and they have different tax systems and differently calculated so I had to find and match the differences. Good thing is, I still get some money back.

Bad thing is, if I hadn't worked abroad, doing my taxes would have been 2 clicks on a computer.

 

 

On standardized tests, here we have only standard tests for finishing high school. They are also only in 3 subjects: Maths, Estonian and A-foreign language (first and main foreign language you learnt).

For finishing primary school (9th grade) we have regional tests. County tests, pretty much.

All other tests are either made by teachers themselves or shared by teachers between different schools.

 

And we consistently rank higher in PISA and other tests than UK or USA or even Canada.

t3aGt.png

 

So I've noticed this thread's regulars all follow similar trends.

 

RPG is constantly dealing with psycho exes.

Muggi reminds us of the joys of polygamy.

Saq is totally oblivious to how much chicks dig him.

I strike out every other week.

Kalphite wages a war against the friend zone.

Randox pretty much stays rational.

Etc, etc

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

 

I know a girl that had a long distance relationship and naturally her and her bf skyped. She discovered that not only did she enjoy the intimacy with her boyfriend through that medium but that stripping made her feel sexy and powerful. So she decided that she wanted to do it professionally and is on a cam site for that and makes >$40k.

 

I think this example make your question and education reform meaningless because they will never account for people like this.

 

And I will make the claim that for most of us we have an event like this girl that makes us decide that we love one skill or another that we never couldve predicted beforehand.

Which sort of exemplifies just how inefficient and student-unfriendly the current education system is, if it doesn't account for an experience that 'most' people will have. That would make it more in need of reform, not less: it's basically just an archaic, useless, and downright damaging time sink that utterly fails at preparing students for the basic foundational courses it professes to teach, let alone anything meaningful. And while there are always those life-changing moments that can't be accounted for, it's currently set up in such a way that an experience that 'most' people will have makes the entire effort wasted.

 

Even the sorts of universal things that everyone can make use of are taught in such an esoteric way as to be both inflexible and useless, like you mentioned with middle-school algebra above, or things like the scientific method, or critical thinking, or what have you. I feel like I've learned more about the basic foundations of scientific theory from reading paleontology blogs than I have in 12 years of k-12 education. And I know non- native English speakers that write with more clarity than I did after being in the [bleep]ing IB program, because they write fanfiction regularly.

 

Any system that is less efficient at teaching than fanfiction deserves to be torn down on principle /s

 

(And yes blah blah blah information age and the practice aspect of writing and hobbyists being able to pursue their interests at their own pace and everything else people are liable to use as counterpoints- yes. That's the point. You learn more about sentence structure and flow and subtext and motivation by actually writing it, not by reading Shakespeare. And learning that Darwin studied finches as the groundwork for the theory of evolution is not nearly as interesting as seeing those ideas in action and applied to real organisms, their evolutionary theories, and their place in the tree of life. The point is that these are all pretty basic things that our current education system is wholly unprepared to teach. )

 

If I had to point to one overall problem with k-12 education, it's the lack of practice. Too many concepts are taught too quickly and blown off before anyone can get a handle on them. There's a reason programs like Kumon are so popular (and successful). It doesn't even teach as much as it just gets you to practice repetitively until you have a deep understanding of what you're actually doing.

 

 

This ties in to your point about FF - people who write it spend a massive amount of time simply writing (practicing), so of course they get better at it.

polvCwJ.gif
"It's not a rest for me, it's a rest for the weights." - Dom Mazzetti

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I remember when we had to start learning how to type. They gave us typing programs which made typing exercises into games. Which is actually a good way to learn, but an even better way to learn is just typing all the time at home recreationally. I think everybody eventually became a fast typer mostly through talking via instant messengers all the time, or playing online games which required communication via typing

77yLQy8.png

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I remember when we had to start learning how to type. They gave us typing programs which made typing exercises into games. Which is actually a good way to learn, but an even better way to learn is just typing all the time at home recreationally. I think everybody eventually became a fast typer mostly through talking via instant messengers all the time, or playing online games which required communication via typing

Hence why most of us here on the Runescape forum probably type at 60+wpm. One of the few things I don't regret about all the time I have spent playing the game.
  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

I remember the typing games. Do kids still have to do that or is it just widely accepted that kids are born with iPhones in their hand and they can manage on their own?

 

Also, I credit ALL of my typing skills to trying to merch shit in world 1 on runescape. If you didn't type fast or accurately enough while reading other people's price text - you lost out on sales

Quote

 

Quote

Anyone who likes tacos is incapable of logic.

Anyone who likes logic is incapable of tacos.

 

PSA: SaqPrets is an Estonian Dude

Steam: NippleBeardTM

Origin: Brand_New_iPwn

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Spamming through different chats is the main differential...

 

Well, I also learnt a LOT of my English from series, movies and RS.

Estonian and English have pretty much nothing in common.

 

But the point is, how can you make things that young kids need to learn, like typing and grammar and maths fun? How to make it such that they would like to also deal with it recreationally at home?

t3aGt.png

 

So I've noticed this thread's regulars all follow similar trends.

 

RPG is constantly dealing with psycho exes.

Muggi reminds us of the joys of polygamy.

Saq is totally oblivious to how much chicks dig him.

I strike out every other week.

Kalphite wages a war against the friend zone.

Randox pretty much stays rational.

Etc, etc

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Spamming through different chats is the main differential...

 

Well, I also learnt a LOT of my English from series, movies and RS.

Estonian and English have pretty much nothing in common.

 

But the point is, how can you make things that young kids need to learn, like typing and grammar and maths fun? How to make it such that they would like to also deal with it recreationally at home?

Make it an integral part of a larger fun thing. Most of us probably didn't think the physical mechanics of typing were fun when we were playing RS, but we found the chatting and the game both fun on their own. I didn't find the math fun when I was programming games in middle school, but I really enjoyed the programming and the games, so I learned it and became excited about it over time.

 

I mean, clearly that means you need to tailor things to individual interests, and that's a severe challenge, but if it produces results, surely it's worth it?

My skin is finally getting soft
I'll scrub until the damn thing comes off

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Oh come now, we're all adults here. We can all use our left hand for 90% of the board when we need to ;)

  • Like 2
Quote

 

Quote

Anyone who likes tacos is incapable of logic.

Anyone who likes logic is incapable of tacos.

 

PSA: SaqPrets is an Estonian Dude

Steam: NippleBeardTM

Origin: Brand_New_iPwn

Link to comment
Share on other sites

No but like I really do type like that all the time. Like I'm exaggerating about the 90%, but Runescape is still the reason I type weird. Like I learned how to type normally and all that, it just didn't stick cuz I was also powermining granite when I was typing

Link to comment
Share on other sites

So a week has gone by.

Yes my experience might sound weird to people but I have genuinely made a friend in the woman I've lived with this week. I honestly wish I could stay longer. I don't really want to go back to the reality of uni but at least it'll be over in about two months.

 

I'd kind of made peace with being a lone Wolf and enjoyed being in my own space. It just sucks for it to be all over already.

 

I just don't really want to see people I don't like right now and it sounds ridiculously childish but I just don't think I'm in the right frame of mind to go back to how things were before I made my decision to just [bleep] off and travel solo.

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

I can't write for shit with only my left hand.

I always use both hands...

t3aGt.png

 

So I've noticed this thread's regulars all follow similar trends.

 

RPG is constantly dealing with psycho exes.

Muggi reminds us of the joys of polygamy.

Saq is totally oblivious to how much chicks dig him.

I strike out every other week.

Kalphite wages a war against the friend zone.

Randox pretty much stays rational.

Etc, etc

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I think we both agree that education system cannot generate interest in a topic and without interest you can never really practice enough to actually master it. Fair enough

 

So why do you go back to the answer of "we need to fix this horrible state bureaucracy that is inefficient". My stance was that no state bureaucracy can actually answer this for you - never - no matter how well structured, given by my anti-thesis of no ones going to tell your kid to become a stripper but your kid may discover that stripping makes them feel empowered - regardless of whether they can solve differential equations or not.

 

edit:

I guess my point is, the second language kids you talk about writing better than you because they have a passion for writing, which you obviously lacked since you didn't spend your youth writing novellas. Thats okay, we all specialize somewhere, in whatever medium did interest you it led you to develop above average skills there, relative to the general population. 

 

I think you miss that there is always a trade off, real life MMO differs from Runescape MMO in that you can never be the jack of all trades

It's more of a "hey, this system that exists to spend 12+ years giving kids a basic education goes about it in the worst possible way. I'm not expecting it to generate interest (quite the opposite), I'm expecting it to teach (certain) things that people generally should know by the time they get to adulthood: basic language and communication, what science actually is and isn't, a bit of history and how things got to be the way they are now, some critical thinking and how to read subtext, that sort of thing.

 

I'm not sure if I would call it bureaucratic inefficiency when it's mostly just the sort of unclear direction that can happen at any level.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

What a crummy week. Somehow threw my back out drying myself off after a shower, i have completely lost feeling in my left foot, and yesterday i missed my flight from Greece back to Doha and i had to spend 12 hours on the airport after already being awake for a good 8 or 9 hours. Air-hostess was hot af though and we're going for drinks tomorrow evening, so that's pretty cool. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I feel really emotional, I just can't stand midterms. I can't stand being constantly assessed, it's not what I'm used to at home.

I can't stand exam after exam after exam, I actually feel so drained.

I can't stand my housemate's toy car that has petrol leaks all the time.

I can't stand people shouting racist things at me on nights out and thinking because they're drunk it's okay.

I can't stand feeling like a fish out of water over here. The bad outweighs the good of my experience. It's not all bad, and I feel awful for complaining but my god this has been a really difficult year - both academically and socially. I am literally not used to the kind of class-ism that goes on here. 

 

It's kind of cringey when this happens, but "rich" people back home always wanted to be seen as "normal" so they used to use slang unnecessary and try their best to imitate people from modest backgrounds.

I mean, I have no problem at all with rich people, but the ones here are just  :angry:  :angry:  :angry:

 

In the first few weeks, I overheard a conversation where somebody said rich people are inherently smarter than poor people  <_< . 

 

So I downloaded Rs again, lol. 

 

Can't wait to get on the road again, though - Montreal and Washington DC should be good trips. 

 

The weird part is that I could totally see myself coming back to Toronto one day. I really love Canada, I just hate this Uni so much.

Sorry about the rant, lol.

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Going back to work for the first time today...

 

Been weird, this month having been completely out from everything.

Gonna hang on to the one crutch for now still, can't get rid of it completely. Need it for stairs and for longer distances.

  • Like 1

t3aGt.png

 

So I've noticed this thread's regulars all follow similar trends.

 

RPG is constantly dealing with psycho exes.

Muggi reminds us of the joys of polygamy.

Saq is totally oblivious to how much chicks dig him.

I strike out every other week.

Kalphite wages a war against the friend zone.

Randox pretty much stays rational.

Etc, etc

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Ok I've calmed down but it literally looks like everybody hates everybody here.

I'm actually so confused.

 

I have no idea what's going on anymore. I spoke to the president of the black students society since we're doing a Microbiology project together (I'm normally wary of people like that), I have a feeling they've attacked someone from the Chinese association and everything's just melted into some race war over Yik Yak. The N word is being flung everywhere and so are other derogatory words towards Asians. I've never seen anything like it. 

 

Race relations don't look good at this Uni, even within the "black students society" which I'm not involved in but I'm an observer, apparently everyone thinks they're the next Martin Luther King. The whole thing is a shambles.

 

I'm so used to live and let live that I'm lost in all of this. Is this level of division common at Universities out here?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
×
×
  • Create New...

Important Information

By using this site, you agree to our Terms of Use.