This is an update that relates to the post Not Enough Learning.
I dont know if I should feel pride or feel shame. Is it Pride that my son is a satirist in the making or am I ashamed that I have exposed my kids to my distain for the school’s singular focus on tests? Have I poisioned my kids and undermined the schools administrators?
We are in the middle of testing lock down. All the kids are taking Connecticut’s Mastery tests this and next week. The testing schedule has totally wreaked havoc with my mornings. I am up at 6:15 to get Georgie out of bed and Cal doesnt leave the house until 9:30. Thats 3 hours and 15 minutes to get the kids off to school, a task that normally takes an hour and a half…Makes for a long morning.
Well the above is neither here or there, back to my child’s creative writing. Earlier this week I asked Owen after school how the testing had going. He had had a prompted writing test. He was laughing to himself as he told me the prompt was something to this paraphrased effect: “Write a letter to your principal and tell her who (fictional or real-life.)should be invited to your school to make it even a better school”. So my son creates a character named Lucas Cantakeatest. Lucas has superhuman powers when it comes to influencing average test scores and he can singlehandedly improve a school’s ranking to the point of guaranteeing the continued status of “American’s Blue Ribbon School”. Good one O.
Ashamed but laughing.
