The Best(?) of the Fischbowl 2007

Under Karl Fisch's blog, I chose January 2007's discussion entitled "A Blueprint for Colorado?" found here. In this section he discusses some radical education reforms that have been proposed for Colorado's school system. In his opening paragraphs, Fisch points out his earliest concerns with this radical reform is that it seems to be much too focused on a single test as a total measurement of student learning. As a hopeful future educator, teaching to the test has been one of my greatest concerns in entering the teaching field. Although No Child Left Behind included some positive aspects like the inclusive classroom, I feel that teaching to the tests will stymie the abilities of my students to think critically. Additionally, this supposed test would be administered at the end of the 10th grade whereupon these results would decide what schooling if any some students would continue to receive.

A second major issue I noticed was Fisch's discussion of school districts and ownerships of the schools. In this phase, the authors discuss shifting "possession" from the local communities to independent contractors which I think would be too eager to serve their interests rather than the interests of the community. Overall I felt that this radical reformation of Colorado schools seemed way too focused on early education, I stand by Fisch's argument that any sort of formal education at 3 years old is too extreme, and way too willing to kick out those who fail to achieve an adequate score on the sophomore level ultra exam. Additionally, financially schools and colleges are not adequately prepared for a massive influx of college students that this program intends to produce, with roughly 30% of everyone over the age of 25 possessing a bachelor's degree or higher few people have the opportunity or perhaps the desire to achieve higher education and current college infrastructure is largely based on that. Therefore I stand with Fisch's argument that a radical overhaul of the education system that doesn't include input from school administrators, parents, or faculty is an endeavor that would only end in folly.