Test for speed, Not for Aptitude?
A Harvard educator named Howard Gardner wrote this essay arguing his side of abolishing timed tested overall. He bases his claim off of the fact that SAT scores come along with their time accomplished and are being viewed by universities. He felt it was unfair for people with the need for time to be below people that finished on time. The didactic and subjective tone in Howard Garden’s article ‘Test for Aptitude, not for Speed’ exemplifies the inadequate strategies that were used to convey Howards bias and rational argument. The structure and strategy used in his article are clearly not the most effective for his target audience. As a result, Howard Gardner ineffectively uses personal evidence, organization, and tone to reach his intended audience (Gardner 795).
Howard Gardner utilizes a very instructive voice inequality implying a
…show more content…
subjective tone towards the argument he is trying to pursue. Unfortunately, these tones suggest a very bias claim resulting in not only in an ineffective stance, but a poor organization through the article. Take for example in the sentences “As a teacher, I want my students to read, write and think well; I don’t care how much time they spend on their assignments.” and “Speed is of the essence; the test – taker should be able to answer about one question in a minute. Those who are familiar with these types of questions can answer quickly and are able to shift rapidly from one question type to the other are at a distinct advantage.” (Gardner 795). Gardner includes his experience and opinion as a replacement for his evidence, especially due to the fact that he doesn’t use much of statistical evidence to support his claim for the argument. Because of this his own tactic decreases his credibility and ultimately implies a very intuitive declaration. As for having a pedagogic tone he explains many of the SAT, a test he uses as an example to support his claim, in detail. Then leading him to speak about how some people are at a disadvantage without having the skills necessary to pass those tests, lacking changing his tone. Gardner’s unsuccessful and stable tone creates an unreliable mood in the reader, eventually leading the audience to not quite agree with his argument. The way he presents his evidence and reasoning decreases the audience's understanding and reliability (Gardner 795). In this article the author, Howard Gardner, uses a very broad strategy method. He makes his points short and solely of his own reasoning. For example, in the lines, “Nothing of the consequences would be lost by getting rid of timed tests by the College Board or, indeed by universities in general.” (Gardner 795), he makes his point and moves on to describing examples. Now the examples he utilizes only benefit his claim, whereas he could’ve added perhaps a rebuttal to increase more of an open-minded argument. This would have then lead to having the audience better hooked and interested towards his claims. Now throughout his whole article he rarely uses any statistical evidence for his topic sentences in each reason he gives (Gardner 795). Now as for the audience, the author may be targeting numerous groups. Of course he is trying to reach students that have finished high school and are being enrolled into college. On some broader scale; students overall that have taken timed tests. Furthermore, people that aren’t as capable of finishing the test on time, since his argument does support them. In this particular topic he really does not target a certain racial group especially with his claim. Under these circumstances about timing tests like the SAT would bring up the idea of college, then leading to targeting people that can actually afford college. He does evoke ethics, the ethics of equality. Especially in the lines that follow, “Those who are blind get a version of braille; those who are myopic get large print; those who have a good reason for needing more time should get it.” (Gardner 795). The author is trying to make it seem like these disabilities are the same as simply just needing more time. Sadly, he still does not support this with logical evidence. Because of this he is trying to bring up a feeling of sympathy from the reader and convincing them to agree with his claim. As for the language, it seems meant for only student, but with an argument for abolishing timed test, he shouldn’t have been using more professional voice/vocabulary for the administration. With now having a more professional tone his audience would not only be able to grasp his points better but enable more trust into the author (Gardner 795). In the article “Test for Aptitude, not for Speed” the author organizes the story in a very unusual format.
He begins his article by describing a timed test such as the SAT to help support his claim. Howard organizes his paragraphs by stating his topics otherwise known as his grounds. Next he describes his backing with somewhat of a very little piece of his warrant. But Gardner overall does not support his backing or warranty with much of actual evidence or data, resulting in an off balance of the rest of the argument. For his grounds, though he simply states reasons that he thinks. Now for his rebuttals he does make good points and backs them up through his own points. This is shown in the lines “My own guess is that most people would not take much extra time, but the decision would be theirs, not that of a screening body” (Gardner 795), as shown the author uses very weak rebuttals. He does somewhat use qualifiers to help the readers be more lenient with his reasons. Overall the effectiveness of his organization would most likely be improved if added stronger concepts and impressions (Gardner
795). Howard Gardner uses very precise reasons to clearly support his claim. But also uses a very subjective tone to describe his reasons in a didactic way. This then results in having a very extensive area of audiences that create a confusing and unstable target to express his argument towards. The way he organizes his article is clear but with very weak points that could have made his argument downfall. As for his strategies he uses very poor evidence to clearly support his claims. He uses not logical/statistical data to help improve his credibility. Due to all of the concepts that contribute to his article the effectiveness was at a very low standard compared to what he could have done. The audience would have been more impacted if once again, he adds more data, stronger points, and an objective tone. His points are strong, but sadly not strongly supported.
In her article, “The Case Against GRADES”, Alfie Kohn discusses the grading system and its faults. She opens her argument with information from an older psychological study that proves the negative impact of the current grading system, and she reinforces this with the proof that “no” research has contradicted this statement. Also, she gives many key reasons including: “Motivation”, “Achievement”, “Quantification”, and “Curriculum”. Kohn supports these topics with other reasearch for why the system is failing the students. She asserts that, “… the absence of grading is a necessary condition for promoting deep thinking and a desire to engage in it.” As support, she offers other solutions and then debunks them by proving that they would not solve
However, the good is outweighed by the bad in that this article has almost no factual support. Worley seems to be venting her thoughts without any outside factual support. It is difficult to label this article as effective due to the lack of any factual support and evidence to back up her arguments. That is exactly what needs to change in the article. Worley must use more sources for information to back up her points, then the article may be more convincing and worth
Lee and George attacks the credibility of Thomson by disputing her argument with a logical
... trusted statistics and carefully worded statements did not appear as though the author was pushing excessively for his own viewpoint but instead wished to share as many factual statements so the reader could come to their own logical conclusion along with the author giving no room for a reasonable argument that he had not already approached at some point in the chapter.
In conclusion, I felt that this column was written as a piece of trickery. It was devised to fool average people into agreement. I also felt that anyone with mild intelligence and critical reasoning skills could easily punch an incalculable number of holes in his arguments. So, did he achieve his goal? I believe that this piece of writing could easily win over half of the U.S. population, but that doesn’t speak well for his writing necessarily.
Since this test has been devised, the number one question everybody is asking is, “ isn’t it unfair to base a student’s entire future on one test, when he or she simply could have had a bad day when taking the test”? The president Kirk T. Schroder of the Virginia Board of Education, answer this question by saying, “First of all, these tests are untimed, so no student is under arbitrary time pressure in taking the test.
...achieving high scores on standardized tests” (Solley).Because of this, teachers take more time to teach test preparation skills than valuable information (Neill, 165). Although standardized tests have been trusted for years to assess the progress of students, there is little evidence that they measure progress accurately.
She explains how standardized tests, such as the one her students took, were designed with numerous interference techniques, included questions which were above-grade material, and were administered with inadequate time to answer the questions being presented. Stahlman goes on to express her frustration with a standardized test which was administered to her students by saying "I watched in horror as my precious students, who were gifted poets and writers, inquisitive scientists and mathematicians, lovers of books, remarkable artists, and caring learners, were forced to silently attempt to master a test that was designed to trip them up." (Stahlman 242) The author also states how these standardized tests seem to be high-stakes in nature due to schools being labeled and ranked according to their scores and teachers being rewarded due to their students achievement in these tests. This article serves as one of my stronger arguments for my case compared to my other sources, due to its exemplification of how the proliferation of such tests is alarming and how the standardized testing of students at such a young age is not appropriate due to their cognitive development. The article is also useful in the sense that is provides a valid and sound argument for the opposition of standardized testing. I will be implementing this source into my argumentative essay by providing examples from Stahlman's text on how bizarre standardized testing might seem when it comes to the assessment of students, especially at such a young age. It will also serve as a good source for proving how much of a bearing standardized tests hold on the assessment of not only students but teachers as
Another major criticism of the “No Child Left Behind” deals with the implications of using a standardized test as means of assessing achievement.
Standardized tests have been used to see how much a child has learned over a certain period of time. These tests have been a highly debated issue with many parents and just people in general. In the article “Opting out of standardized tests? Wrong answer,” the author Michelle Rhee argues that people should not be trying to opt out of standardized tests because it allows the country to see how much a child has learned and the things they need to improve. On the other hand, in the article “Everything You’ve Heard About Failing Schools Is Wrong,” the author Kristina Rizga argues that standardized tests are not an efficient way to measure a student’s intelligence.
Although there have been legitimate arguments supporting the benefits of standardized testing, such as their ability to successfully measure students’ proficiency, in recent years there have been concerns and disadvantages regarding how their misuse poses a serious threat to the American education system. Despite the belief that standardized tests should be used to measure students’ proficiency, there are more reasons outweighing this statement regarding why they shouldn’t be used for this purpose. Not only is this a particular issue with standardized testing, but the tests are becoming more high stakes and are being used unfairly to determine things such as graduation, or placement in a school, resulting in a significant amount of stress and anxiety in students. Testing corporations are also profiting from the design of these standardized tests, while standardized testing is also forcing teachers to all teach the same thing, leading to a lack of creativity in the students. Aside from these arguments, standardized tests have been found to be becoming flawed and have poor design.
tests were primarily employed as measures of student achievement that could be reported to parents, and as a means of noting state and district trends (Moon 2) . Teachers paid little attention to these tests, which in turn had little impact on curriculum. However, in the continuing quest for better schools and high achieving students, testing has become a central focus of policy and practice. Standardized tests are tests that attempt to present unbiased material under the same, predetermined conditions and with consistent scoring and interpretation so that students have equal opportunities to give correct answers and receive an accurate assessment. The idea is that these similarities allow the highest degree of certainty in comparing result...
Standardized tests are a tremendous part of most schools’ curriculum in the United States today. These tests are assessments of students’ knowledge on either one or more subjects. Standardized tests are a performance evaluation of students, teachers, and schools due to their importance. A standardized test is distinctive from other tests in two ways. One, it has common questions being answered in the same way and two, it is being scored in a consistent style allowing for comparative performance. Through extensive research Oliver’s and Visone’s statements and overall research have several key differences that shape their own separate arguments. Though their thesis and hypothesis have the same underlying idea that there is a problem with` standardized
He just disputes the conspiracy theory claims by stating what makes logical sense. Due to the writer’s bias towards the subject, the opposing views are stated in a way that sounds illogical or uneducated. He does, however, include a fair amount of arguments of the believers. Although the author takes a condescending attitude throughout the article, his approach is reasonable. The perspective of the believers is recognized and explained in a fair-minded way.
Standardized testing in the United States is not always a common practice. In the Mid-1800s, Horace Mann, an education reformist, developed a test to administer to a group of students. Its purpose was to determine how students were performing at their current level and whether they were capable of proceeding to a higher level of education, although the student’s success on the test had no negative repercussions. These tests were a necessity at that time because the idea of public education was still being molded and these tests were the only means by which student progress could be measured. Within 35 years of the first recorded examination in 1845, testing became the factor which determined whether students were able to be promoted to the next grade.