It's CCRAP Week!

It's everyone's favorite time of year!  It's CCRAP week!

Ok, so it's NOT everyone's favorite time of year.  If you don't have kids or you don't have kids in the local public school system, you may not even be aware of CCRAP (in which case you might be a very lucky soul!).  So what is this CCRAP that I speak of?  It is what in consider the PARCC (Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers) assessment to be.  Amazingly, I am NOT the only one who thinks/feels this way.

Let me put it bluntly (as if I haven't already stated my feelings on the subject:  http://bfthsboringblog.blogspot.com/2016/04/somwad-ccrap-week.html), PARCC is complete and total bull**** in my book.  His schooling is essentially non-existent for the week.  He sits in a classroom in the morning and takes this standardized test.  Then he has lunch.  Then he has some classes and comes home.  The upside to all of this?  Well, at least in my son's book it's that there is no homework.  This makes him happy.  What child ISN’T happy when there is no homework?  Of course how could there be homework when there's no (or limited) classroom time?

I know that standardized tests are part of life.  I took standardized tests when I was in school.  Of course back in the "dark ages" we didn't use computers (what are they?), we used the famous #2 pencil to fill in the little circles of a, b, c or d.  It wasn't a big deal (as far as I can recall).  It didn't affect me (as far as I can recall).  That's the way it should be.  A part of life; NOT a disruption of life.  And certainly NOT a disruption of my child's daily education.

I am of the opinion that teaching isn't a "job" it's a calling. I have the utmost respect for teachers, even for the ones that I was not too thrilled with. TEACHERS, not tests, are preparing our children for college and careers.  Together, we should work to prepare our children for the "real world".  (Education is not confined to a classroom.  While teachers are essential to any child's education they cannot and SHOULD not do it alone.  Parents, families, etc. Are also a vital part to the education of our youth.)

Forget college and career; I want my child to be prepared for LIFE.  College may be a part of that.  Hopefully a career will be part of that. No standardized test is going to help him.  (Although it certainly could hurt him as well as countless other students as they stress out over this whole PARCC thing.)

What WILL help him; what WILL prepare him for college, career and life in general is a well-rounded education.  He needs to be able to read and write at an adult level so that he can fill out job applications/create a resume and understand legal documents (we all DO read the fine print when signing a loan application, filling out a medical form, etc., right?) and be able to communicate with others.  He needs to be proficient in math so that he is able to balance a checkbook, properly calculate a tip, etc.  He also needs history/social studies so that he understands where we come from and to help him create a better future.  He needs science to understand the world around him (and to understand that he, alone, is not the world.)  He needs a foreign language so that he can communicate and understand others who may not live in his "backyard."  He needs music, art, social skills...All of this can be taught in a school setting and is much more valuable than a standardized assessment.

He also needs to learn how to live on his own.  This is NOT the responsibility of a school system (although it certainly can help).  He needs basic cooking skills for man cannot live on prepackaged microwave dinner alone.  (Or maybe he can but not for long.)  He needs to know how to do laundry, clean a house, perform basic grooming skills for his health, to drive a car...

Let's forget standardized assessments.  There is no standardized child out there (at least that I know of.)  Let's move on to more important things.  Let the teachers teach and not monitor or assess.  Let's work TOGETHER to prepare our children for the world ahead of them.

Let's keep the CCRAP to a minimum.  Test my child if you must, but don’t have it be the end all and be all.  Life is NOT a standardized test.  Our children need to LIVE life and not spend hours in front of a computer answering questions that I feel have no real world application.  CCRAP isn't real and it certainly isn't preparing our children for what is really out there...LIFE.