From In These
Times.
It's not like tests themselves are
inherently evil. Almost every teacher gives some kind of test or assessment.
But when you place so much, so many outcomes on that edifice it's too much
weight for that instrument to bear. It distorts and warps the whole teaching
and learning process.
“Teaching is a caring profession–a humane
profession about human beings engaging with one another,” says Brian Jones, a
former New York City public-school teacher now pursuing a PhD in urban
education. “Relationships between the teachers and the learners are an important
part of the whole process.”
Jones and other teachers worry that the new
system of teacher evaluations slated to be implemented this fall in New York's
public schools will take caring out of the equation.
