3/31/2006

Schools Cut Back Subjects to Push Reading and Math

I read an interesting article about schools having to cut back on other subjects to push reading and math. Apparently the new “No Child Left Behind” act, is forcing schools to narrow their base of courses taught in order to avoid being punished for falling below the rising benchmarks of annual testing for the act. It seems kind of crazy to me. I would think we would have smarter people who were exposed to music, art, and history as well as reading and math. What are your thoughts?

3 comments:

Brittney said...

I agree as well. In fact, there has been extensive research on the benefits of music for children. For instance, learning timing in music (how many beats per measure) can help immensely with fractions. Playing the piano can teach right and left hand coordination. As well, reading music may be correlated to reading words. The benefits are endless, not only in music, but in art, drama, history, physical education, etc. It is a shame that our students have to be deprived of these benefits in order to receive high test scores, which I do not consider to be a true reflection of intelligence.

Dr. Tufte said...

There was an earlier post on this with similar sentiments. See my comments there.

Anonymous said...

love to see this discussion! It’s great to see you all working through the issues and also, it’s great to see recommendations for testing. In the end, it’s what your actual users do and prefer that should be your biggest driver in making these decisions.

part time worker