The more I read of America’s Perfect Storm, the more
unconvinced I felt. I understand the
report is framed from the urging of a historical, economical, and political
context, but who really understands what needs to be accomplished to “reclaim
the American dream” as Kirsch/ETS proposes? Isn’t this as complex an answer as
our rapidly evolving population and world? As educators are we always confident
we’re giving our students exactly what they need? It seemed to relate back to
the belief that knowledge can be imparted despite continuous change or, the
formula, if we all do x [e.g. NCLB], then
it will increase y [not, ha!]. Why would we expect to see scores go up when
the same standardizations are being used to assess the changing landscape? It
seems simple to compare world rankings and point to our deficits but have our
evaluative methods culturally evolved to get an accurate picture of how we’re really doing? Time and time again it feels like we’re stuck
in a paradigm of one-size-fits-all despite the diversity of our population.
One paragraph of the report was particularly alarming:
Interestingly,
college graduates with weak literacy and numeracy proficiencies were much more
likely than their more highly skilled peers to be underemployed…less than half
of employed four-year college graduates whose prose proficiency placed them in
a Level 1, and only a slight majority of those in Level 2, were working in college-labor
market occupations (p.17)
I sense it’s a major red flag that four-year college
graduates could also be categorized at a level 1 and 2 prose proficiency?
I found solace in Jank’s chapter, Turning to Literacy. I appreciated her honest account of how deep
the English language is tied to power and how cultural identity can be conceded
by the influence of the “legitimate language”. But who decides legitimacy? I couldn’t help but wonder about the identity
struggles of those who were tested, categorized, and reported on in America’s
Perfect Storm. Jank points out that all educators in diverse communities face
the same issues as the English teachers in South Africa. So, is our task to
lead learners through critical examinations of legitimate language? I imagine
Freire would say so!
I agree - I am unconvinced by "America's Perfect Storm." Also, I want to point out that ETS is the company behind the SAT, Virginia's SOL tests, and a bunch of other standardized testing - so it is in that company's interest to promote a "one-size-fits-all" approach, which you rightly note doesn't work!
ReplyDeleteFurthermore, the report was published in 2007, before the 'Great Recession,' so the economic landscape has changed considerably since then.
Lindsey, you (and Seth) raise good concerns for sure. But let's remember that, like it or not, the market place does decide which literacies are legitimate (or privileged). Since we are all part of this truth regime, we have to strive for ways to get enough distance (like through genealogy and critical discourse analysis) to see the deeper and distal forces at work, or get close enough (through open ended interviews and observation) to understand the "other's" perspectives and discourses. Both the critical; and the socio-cultural are methods for "unlearning in order to learn." B.
ReplyDelete