I've often thought that in a perfect world, I would always have the right answer to every problem, but that wouldn't be so perfect, would it? There would be no adventure or "risks" as the excerpt says. I personally spend too much time trying to be "perfect"... the perfect student, daughter, fiancee, friend... but I have found that when I try to be perfect and answer every problem or issue the "right" way, my life is not as much fun as it could be. This article was most certainly written to benefit people like me!
I agree with the reading for many reasons. I, like many teachers and future teachers, detest standardized tests. They attempt to label a child, they pay no attention to how a student attempted to answer a question, and they put too much pressure on the student and teacher. The "right" answer on these tests may be right according to the people creating them, but what if a child sees something differently than the test makers? It doesn't matter because the child is told he or she is wrong if the answer doesn't match the key. As the text says, those tests don't really measure intelligence.
I can relate to the children who went along with Alec's answer each time. I was like that in school. I never wanted to speak up even when I knew the answer to a question. There was always that chance I would be wrong, so I stayed quiet. I hope I learn as a teacher to be accepting of all answers and to give my students time to discover for themselves what they think the "right" answer is to every question in life.
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