It is articles like these that remind me of how bad of a situation we are in. The top few percent of people that have actually succeed in test- and teacher-centered education think they are the norm an pushing for others to be like them. Actually out of many of the people who have succeeded in the type of education, the lawyers, doctors, and politicians, most are criminals or con-artists. I would never want my students to turn out like them. This will be a never-ending fight until we can educate the public on how people actually learn, and what a successful life really is.

I think we can go 50/50 on many of these. For instance, myth number 1 and 3, I do know many teachers who think that this is true or they talk as if it were. However, what the ICG needs to do is develop ways to do get away from this. Many teachers, as Bruno mentions, do know this, but do not know any alternative ways of handling the situation. Perhaps, presenting alternative ways of handling it is something the ICG could do next.

This does seem to be a never ending argument. What many schools need to do to increase reading skills is get more books in the schools and homes. And why doesn’t anyone ever talk about teacher training in the universities being a problem. If the training was ever improved we would not have to worry about what type of policies the government implements because we would have more knowledgeable teachers in the front lines!

Perhaps nothing can be done about the height of children, but I wonder how much is being done to teach the students’ parents. In addition, if any attention to DNA side of the problem has been dealt with.

Why don’t they do research on the other forms of assessment? Do they really think that testing is the only way to test if students are getting a ‘good education’? The first things they need to do is get more books into the schools if they want to increase reading level among other things. They, how about teacher training? I have never heard of any one talking about the failure of universities to train teachers which might create change in the front lines where it is necessary and not in some governmental office where education is seen only on paper.

This is a very interesting method that is far better than just interviewing a candidate. Some people are just good at interviews, but that doesn’t necessarily mean that he or she is a good teacher. Perhaps he or she has been let go more than once giving him or her lots of experiences with interviews! In the teacher’s exam in Japan, not only do they have a huge written test that takes more than four hours to complete, but they also have group discussions, essays, practice lessons, and practice situations they have to do in front of interviewers. It is a very rigorous process that lasts more than a month. Also, in countries like Finland, there is a probation year, where a candidate is put under the wing of an experience teacher for a year to see if he or she actually has the potential. Or what if all subjects like Teaching English as a second language had a test such as the Cambridge’s Teaching Knowledge Test?

We can’t ignore the research on bilingualism fostering creativity among other things. Also, there have been successful schools with immersions programs the other way around (for native speakers of English), such as schools in Seattle with Japanese immersion programs that perhaps Romney should visit if he has not already.