The episode [of "Good Times"] that Mike Eiland is recalling earned a "Close-Up" in TV Guide. The line he is thinking of is Michael's. It was, roughly: "The test said, Cup and ___, so my friend put, "Cup and Table", because at his house they don't have any saucers between the table and the cup. -- tvparty.com
The education blog community (God forbid, there is such a thing, and I follow it slightly) has been abuzz about a question on the New York state Regents exam that requires students to know pastrami is a type of meat. If you've been wondering how a standardized test can be "culturally biased," there's how. There are probably millions of kids in New York who, no matter what their economic standing, have never eaten pastrami. It's a New York City and/or Jewish thing, no? Is a knowledge of luncheon meat really something one needs to leave high school with?
I have a stack of test prep books I got from an old tutoring employer, and I've been through this type of thing with my literacy students plenty of times, mostly with economic bias, not cultural. I now present my least favorite page from the third grade book:
Vocabulary: Choose the word that has the same meaning, or almost the same meaning, as the underlined word.
6. We need another paddle for the boat
a) oat
b) oak
c) oar
d) motor
I wasn't aware boating literacy was a big problem in the schools. My students, even those older than 3rd grade, inevitably picked "motor" becaues it seemed most likely to be part of a boat.
On the same page:
10. She wore a long gown.
a) shirt
b) dress
c) jacket
d) cape
The f*ck cares if a third grader knows what a gown is? They do tend to correctly guess (and they are guessing) that it's a dress, though sometimes they say jacket or cape.
Finally:
Choose the word that has the opposite meaning of the underlined word.
14. Put the boxes in the attic.
a) barn
b) cellar
c) kitchen
d) yard
That's right: the average LA 9-year-old has only a vague idea what an attic or cellar might be, because THEY DON'T HAVE ONE.
How to compensate for the fact that poor kids are going to have less life experience due to lack of funds? Is this type of thing less of a problem in less materialistic countries, or do German and Chilean and Chinese kids have to answer questions about yuppie hobbies, fancy clothes, and large houses? Or should schools be in charge of teaching cultural literacy, too?
It's also worth noting that some fifth-graders I tutor recently had to select the correct word to fill in the blank in a sentence...I've forgotten the sentence but the question went something like this:
1) He will do his homework __________.
a) themselves
b) hisself
c) him
d) himself
They picked "hisself," the option put there to entrap urban black kids. Now, bleeding heart liberal though I may be, I don't think we should teach or accept Ebonics or other slang in school. But imagine that not only do you say "hisself," but your mother says it, your sister says it, your grandmother and father and cousins say it, the people at church say it, the coach of your basketball team says it...everyone but your teacher and your tutor. How hard is that? Where's the love for the kid who's got to learn correct grammar (and deli meat) under those conditions?
The education blog community (God forbid, there is such a thing, and I follow it slightly) has been abuzz about a question on the New York state Regents exam that requires students to know pastrami is a type of meat. If you've been wondering how a standardized test can be "culturally biased," there's how. There are probably millions of kids in New York who, no matter what their economic standing, have never eaten pastrami. It's a New York City and/or Jewish thing, no? Is a knowledge of luncheon meat really something one needs to leave high school with?
I have a stack of test prep books I got from an old tutoring employer, and I've been through this type of thing with my literacy students plenty of times, mostly with economic bias, not cultural. I now present my least favorite page from the third grade book:
Vocabulary: Choose the word that has the same meaning, or almost the same meaning, as the underlined word.
6. We need another paddle for the boat
a) oat
b) oak
c) oar
d) motor
I wasn't aware boating literacy was a big problem in the schools. My students, even those older than 3rd grade, inevitably picked "motor" becaues it seemed most likely to be part of a boat.
On the same page:
10. She wore a long gown.
a) shirt
b) dress
c) jacket
d) cape
The f*ck cares if a third grader knows what a gown is? They do tend to correctly guess (and they are guessing) that it's a dress, though sometimes they say jacket or cape.
Finally:
Choose the word that has the opposite meaning of the underlined word.
14. Put the boxes in the attic.
a) barn
b) cellar
c) kitchen
d) yard
That's right: the average LA 9-year-old has only a vague idea what an attic or cellar might be, because THEY DON'T HAVE ONE.
How to compensate for the fact that poor kids are going to have less life experience due to lack of funds? Is this type of thing less of a problem in less materialistic countries, or do German and Chilean and Chinese kids have to answer questions about yuppie hobbies, fancy clothes, and large houses? Or should schools be in charge of teaching cultural literacy, too?
It's also worth noting that some fifth-graders I tutor recently had to select the correct word to fill in the blank in a sentence...I've forgotten the sentence but the question went something like this:
1) He will do his homework __________.
a) themselves
b) hisself
c) him
d) himself
They picked "hisself," the option put there to entrap urban black kids. Now, bleeding heart liberal though I may be, I don't think we should teach or accept Ebonics or other slang in school. But imagine that not only do you say "hisself," but your mother says it, your sister says it, your grandmother and father and cousins say it, the people at church say it, the coach of your basketball team says it...everyone but your teacher and your tutor. How hard is that? Where's the love for the kid who's got to learn correct grammar (and deli meat) under those conditions?
