Thursday, April 23, 2009

Shorter Last Night's Rant

I've seen no evidence (and McKinsey provides none) that any country has closed an achievement gap tied to income equality as large as the US's.

I've seen no evidence (and McKinsey provides none) that any country has closed an achievement gap tied to inequality in overall measures of human development as large as the US's.

I've seen no evidence (and McKinsey provides none) that any country has closed an achievement gap tied to historically enslaved, oppressed and marginalized minorities.

I've seen no evidence (and McKinsey provides none) that any country has closed an achievement gap between recent immigrants from less-developed countries and native populations.

I see no direct tie between achievement gaps as measured by standardized testing and per capita income at the state level or state GDP, and no reason to think that this holds at the national level either.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

You haven't missed it; there just isn't any evidence to be seen.

But it's a useful theme for them to push. Right, the goal is wonderful?

But to get there (and there is where all the nasty agenda items are stored)

(and dealing with inequality is not one of them)

Jonathan

A. Mercer said...

Tom, we educators obviously suffer from the hard disdain of overly high expectations.

I mean why can't we all walk on water? If it was good enough for our Lord, someone with a college education ought to manage it?

Meanwhile, in the reality-based world I live in, we recognize that a child hearing their mother being killed in the other room will bring certain issues to their education that can't be solved with cheering bromides from Chicken Soup for the Soul, and a can-do attitude.

It's amazing how this "rational actors" and "market equilibrium" "Chicago School" horse cr@p has infected all the social sciences, and not just polluted and discredited economics. Hey, let's pretend like all markets are equal, say, let's pretend like all kids are equal when they get to school! Hey, I would make a rational choice about my kid's education that would maximize their learning, any parent would, so they will! All things are NEVER equal. Never have been, and certainly haven't been in this country lately.

Thanks for these posts, I laughed at your come backs, I cried at their suppositions, now I get to kiss two weeks goodbye. Happy testing season!