Thanks for that article, CK; I can't say that I'm glad to know that other countries also dumb down their tests, but I am relieved to know that we're not the only ones. Does anyone know whether the Japanese schoolchildren are still being pushed to actually learn things, as ours no longer are, really?
Speaking of hot under the collar: don't get me started on dumbing-down. On the one hand, I can sympathize with school administrators who face a shortening of funds and resources if the pupils perform poorly; BUT--when the alternative is to produce a whole generation of people who can't do basic math or write understandably, and who are ignorant re: a lot of geography and history...dammit. I'm not meaning to imply that this is due to widespread failure by teachers; on the contrary, I have witnessed only a fraction of the things they are required to do, and I can tell you, there's not enough money on the earth to pay me to be one. I haven't studied this "No Child Left Behind" program at all, but I do agree with the premise that the title implies: if some pupils can come out well-learned, like our own inimitable Jazzo, than ALL ought to, if they are capable of it. I sure don't have the answers, but I think a real, lasting improvement would have to involve not only the government from the top level down, but society as well: people tend to live up to, or down to, what's expected of them. And as long as students know they can "get by" with maybe only 50% effort, that's all they're going to put out. As I told the principal and some other parents at my son's school last year, raising expectations would...I KNOW it would...raise test scores overall. Not for 100% of the students, no, but for the majority, yes.
Back to the teachers: I can't imagine what it must be like, having pupils in class whose parents don't care how they perform--and this is completely aside from the outside bans on what teachers can do about it. That's what I meant by societal involvement. I have seen teachers put out HUGE efforts to try and engage their students; but so often these efforts fall flat when they're not reinforced (to say nothing of actual parental discouragement) by the parents! I say that, if an entire class has had enough lessons and opportunities for studying and asking questions, and they all still only score failing grades on a test: flunk 'em all. However, I can't imagine that this would ever be instituted as a solution on a regular basis, these days--the price would be too high. But I can't help thinking that it would take something of a gigantic impact like several years of a low graduation percentage, to shake up some of these parents into rearranging their priorities.
There have always been "pockets" (areas) where, for whatever reason, education is not considered very important. But I'm afraid that it has become more than just isolated pockets, now; it seems to have insidiously pervaded, to one extent or another, most of the country. And that is REALLY scary.