The discussion about the Standards movement in the United States is pretty err…standard now. As parent who does not live in the United States, I shouldn’t have to worry about that kind of an issue. But in this (cliche) global village, it doesn’t take too long for issues as such to circulate to our end of the world. Much like flu- avian or otherwise.
Actually, I’m not too worried about benchmarks. Perhaps because my kids are still too little and busy with rearranging furniture and stretching the limbs of Martell’s Barbie dollies into tunnels, arches and four-legged mutants. Perhaps, in this pre-Monsoon season ( where art thou, Monsun Barat Daya?) , the heat clouds my vision and far-sightedness. Most likely it’s both.
The questions that beg to be asked really, I think, are:
1. How can my homeschool meet the standards/ benchmarks set by the MOE without compromising my convictions e.g. preserving time for play, encouraging intiative in directing own learning ?
2. How can I ignore this benchmark machinery without jeapordizing the future of my children i.e. higher education, making sure that their education is on par with others (irony there) ?
In short, how can I make the benchmark system/ apparatus work for me and my family instead of against us?
I think going into long debates about the validity of benchmarks are rather futile as unfortunately (or not) they are here to stay. However, this doesn’t mean that there should be no voices of dissent. Surely, dissenters can help to constrain the extent to which benchmarks count for a student’s education ?
I did say this would be a short post. Oh well.
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