Public School vs. Homeschool Reading Comprehension
Posted: Mon May 11, 2009 5:04 pm
Hi all! ( I do have a question at the end I need an answer to)
Recently I gave my girls a previously released version of our state's standardized test. This was mainly for my hubby's peace of mind, we do not have to test in Texas. They did well, but this brought on some questions for me.
My daughter was doing the reading comprehension section and read one of the short stories. The story was about a girl who cares for a deaf dog. One of the questions she had to answer was: "Which of the following statements shows that the owner was a patient person." She answered and got it wrong. The "correct" answer was the statement that indicated "it took a lot of time to train such a dog". My daughter's answer was the statement that said the "owner asked others to not wake the dog when he's sleeping."
Now in my daughter's opinion, they both convey the owner is patient. She enjoyed the short story (as much she could while taking a stinky test!). She related the dog owner to an empathetic and patient person. And honestly, someone can endure a time consuming situation without being a patient person!!! In my opinion, she went above and beyond comprehension. I feel the test tried to make a matter of opinion into a matter of fact with the test question. I'm not trying to be a smart aleck (sp?) here.
This reminded me of how frustrated I would get taking tests in public school. If you could...you would take the tests knowing the answers you were expected to give...how to take the test the way they wanted you too...all the while wanting to give your own answer that you knew would be "wrong" in the teacher's eyes.
Makes me soooo glad I homeschool my kiddos! I'd much rather my child relate to and be consumed by a story/article...then just get the facts and "their right answers". How can a test or teacher tell you that there is only one right way to feel about, interpret and understand what a unique author wrote? I guess in public school there is only room for one universal answer and I realize they are testing for comprehension. I think comprehension is far too unique to be tested and limited like this! And I find it sad that the public schools have to test so much that there's not much time to really learn to understand and enjoy literature that was created for just that!
They don't have to take a test now....but to get into college will they have to "comprehend" according to these silly rules? Or will their personal understanding and interpretation be valued?
Thanks
Elyssa
Recently I gave my girls a previously released version of our state's standardized test. This was mainly for my hubby's peace of mind, we do not have to test in Texas. They did well, but this brought on some questions for me.
My daughter was doing the reading comprehension section and read one of the short stories. The story was about a girl who cares for a deaf dog. One of the questions she had to answer was: "Which of the following statements shows that the owner was a patient person." She answered and got it wrong. The "correct" answer was the statement that indicated "it took a lot of time to train such a dog". My daughter's answer was the statement that said the "owner asked others to not wake the dog when he's sleeping."
Now in my daughter's opinion, they both convey the owner is patient. She enjoyed the short story (as much she could while taking a stinky test!). She related the dog owner to an empathetic and patient person. And honestly, someone can endure a time consuming situation without being a patient person!!! In my opinion, she went above and beyond comprehension. I feel the test tried to make a matter of opinion into a matter of fact with the test question. I'm not trying to be a smart aleck (sp?) here.
This reminded me of how frustrated I would get taking tests in public school. If you could...you would take the tests knowing the answers you were expected to give...how to take the test the way they wanted you too...all the while wanting to give your own answer that you knew would be "wrong" in the teacher's eyes.
Makes me soooo glad I homeschool my kiddos! I'd much rather my child relate to and be consumed by a story/article...then just get the facts and "their right answers". How can a test or teacher tell you that there is only one right way to feel about, interpret and understand what a unique author wrote? I guess in public school there is only room for one universal answer and I realize they are testing for comprehension. I think comprehension is far too unique to be tested and limited like this! And I find it sad that the public schools have to test so much that there's not much time to really learn to understand and enjoy literature that was created for just that!
They don't have to take a test now....but to get into college will they have to "comprehend" according to these silly rules? Or will their personal understanding and interpretation be valued?
Thanks
Elyssa