Common Core: Standardized Reality and the Slow Kill of Divergent Thinking

[rangerrebew]

Common Core: Standardized Reality and the Slow Kill of Divergent Thinking
October 14, 2016 | Waking Times | www.wakingtimes.com | 293 views
 

by Nathaniel Mauka

We’ve come a long way in education since the 1960s, but not necessarily in a positive direction. The psychologist J.P. Guilford once drew a distinction between two forms of thinking: convergent and divergent. One produces alternative theories, creative ideas, and useful solutions, the other, the dogmatization of information and a ‘single’ correct answer which can be force-fed to students on standardized tests and in common core classrooms.

Divergent thinking is done by a mind that is turned ‘on’ and engaged in the constant questioning of reality, instead of passively ‘dumbed down’ by rote solutions force-fed through memorization and shallow learning. Divergent thinking creates fantastical worlds such as those imagined by the likes of Nikola Tesla, Buckminster Fuller, Beethoven, Einstein, Pythagorus, Leonardo Da Vinci, Marina Abramovic, and similar personalities.

http://www.thedailysheeple.com/common-core-standardized-reality-and-the-slow-kill-of-divergent-thinking_102016

[Idaho_Cowboy]

Very interesting. Thanks for sharing.

[r9etb]

Divergent thinking is done by a mind that is turned ‘on’ and engaged in the constant questioning of reality, instead of passively ‘dumbed down’ by rote solutions force-fed through memorization and shallow learning. Divergent thinking creates fantastical worlds such as those imagined by the likes of Nikola Tesla, Buckminster Fuller, Beethoven, Einstein, Pythagorus, Leonardo Da Vinci, Marina Abramovic, and similar personalities.

This article is so misinformed as to be laughable.

To begin with: why does the author use the 1960s as his baseline?  Many would consider the "teach them how to think, not what to think" revolution of the 60s as something of a disaster (e.g., "the new math," denigrating history as "learning names and dates", grammar....).  Before then, rather excellent educational results were obtained by "rote solutions force-fed through memorization and shallow learning." 

Entire generations, for example, learned a common cultural basis from the McGuffey Readers and the like.  Among other things, that common cultural grounding was the means by which the great American melting pot assimilated a huge number of immigrants from disparate cultures.

And to hold out the likes of Einstein and Tesla as exemplars of how everybody should think is ridiculous.  Those guys were many sigmas out on the tails of the normal distribution -- the vast majority of people are simply incapable of the leaps of intellect those guys could make. 

What's more, if you look at Common Core math, you'll see that its basic approach is .... to teach kids how to think about math, rather than teaching them "rote solutions."  It fails, precisely because it's doing what this yutz wants it to do.

There's plenty to dislike about Common Core.  There's also plenty to dislike about articles like this one.

[goodwithagun]

Common Core combined with high stakes testing can be summed up as this: expose move on, expose move on, expose move on, test for mastery.

[r9etb]

Common Core combined with high stakes testing can be summed up as this: expose move on, expose move on, expose move on, test for mastery.

The whole testing thing is idiotic -- when my kids were in school in our local district, there were several weeks of high-stakes testing every year.  And so testing, plus preparation for testing, wasted a huge amount of time.  Plus which, the kids get so stressed out by the emphasis placed on the tests that it takes them days to recover.

It think that's a pretty widespread phenomenon, and has spurred a pretty effective anti-testing backlash.

I think a lot of this twaddle comes up because "improvements" in education are invented by people (some of whom are actually very bright) who either have no experience in the classroom, or have forgotten whatever experience they had. 

To them, and to the educational bureaucracy above the level of the individual campus, kids are not kids anymore -- they're statistical units and, as such, fodder for experimentation and political grandstanding (on both sides).

[goodwithagun]

The whole testing thing is idiotic -- when my kids were in school in our local district, there were several weeks of high-stakes testing every year.  And so testing, plus preparation for testing, wasted a huge amount of time.  Plus which, the kids get so stressed out by the emphasis placed on the tests that it takes them days to recover.

It think that's a pretty widespread phenomenon, and has spurred a pretty effective anti-testing backlash.

I think a lot of this twaddle comes up because "improvements" in education are invented by people (some of whom are actually very bright) who either have no experience in the classroom, or have forgotten whatever experience they had. 

To them, and to the educational bureaucracy above the level of the individual campus, kids are not kids anymore -- they're statistical units and, as such, fodder for experimentation and political grandstanding (on both sides).

In Ohio, the last third of our school year is testing. Last year the state sent the wrong tests to many of our students. We called them in this summer for "retakes" of the correct test. We have yet to receive their results, yet these students' graduation rides on those results. This year those same students, as juniors, are required to take either the ACT or SAT. Our district chose the ACT.

I am convinced that the nationwide testing fad is simply money laundering. Congress passes testing laws, testing companies make billions, and then in turn donate to Congressional campaigns. Vicious cycle, while at the same time dumbing down the electorate.