EDUCATIONAL STANDARDS AND THE PARADOXICAL DISPARITY

According to Slobodan žyžek, standards in education produce an ironic distance. This may be seen as a law that is disregarded by everyone, including those who are tasked with upholding it. An other approach to conceptualize the ironic distance is as a widely accepted social policy that is practically nonexistent. The former conjures up images of speed restrictions on highways that are hardly, if ever, enforced by the police and are often disregarded by drivers. The latter reminds me of overt racism in a country that says it has amazing civil rights legislation. Finally, ironic distancing might be compared to a religious figure who has extramarital affairs behind closed doors while advocating one thing and acting very otherwise. educational standards and the ironic distance One prominent, cross-party subject in American education is the standards movement. asserting that knowledge cannot be acquired unless both the instructor and the learner have a thorough understanding of the material being taught. Because without developing a standardized exam to measure learning, it is impossible to determine if learning has occurred. This argument is based on pie in the sky on both counts. Teachers need to be experts in the subjects they teach, no question about that. They need to be completely knowledgeable about it. However, pupils are unable to understand concepts they have not been exposed to. Pupils are not assisted in understanding what they do not yet know by having daily learning standards written on the board. The fundamental premise of the standardized exam is that learning proceeds in a linear fashion. Learning is really a complicated process. Learning occurs in bursts, in aha experiences of realization. If learning were graphed over time, the result would be a wavy line rather than a straight one. Additionally, not every kid or adult learns at the same rate. On the contrary, everyone of us learns in a unique way and at a unique speed. It is just untrue to believe that an instrument administered at a certain moment would record proof of learning. Furthermore, rather than accomplishment, standardized testing often correlate better with intelligence tests. When we consider the ironic distance, we have an instance where the performance does not match the rhetoric. Teachers know this reality, for the most part. Politicians are not, however. Teachers find themselves forced to operate within the parameters of this absurd circumstance in the absence of a voice that is taken seriously. Students are the ones who suffer as a result of this policy. Standards related to education and student alienation can have a chilling impact on students. Take a minute to consider the six-year-old student in first grade who falls short of the expected level of performance. He or she is called an ineffective person. Now consider how a six-year-old might be a failure in any meaning of the term. standards divide, resulting in the creation of a master class and an alienated pupil class. This is not acceptable in a democracy. It’s not that kids fail in school; it’s politicians who fail schools, which fail students. Raise your voices, and stop this insane behavior. ———————— Roger Passman, Ed.D., is a former secondary school teacher and professor of language and literacy. He worked as a middle school teacher in a large metropolitan public school system before moving on to teach at the post-secondary level. His areas of interest include student-centered teaching and learning, writing instruction, and education policy. He co-wrote a book on teaching writing in all subject areas, published over two dozen articles in academic publications, and gave presentations of his research findings throughout the globe. He writes for the Progressive Education Now blog after retiring. We always welcome contributions from authors. Please email writer request to Dr. Passman if you would like to contribute to the blog.

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