HAVE YOU EVER HEARD OF A DUMBER SOLUTION?

HAVE YOU EVER HEARD OF A DUMBER SOLUTION?

Just when you think you have heard the dumbest idea that someone has ever come up with, a government department will lower the bar and set a new standard for idiocy! Let us take a moment and offer a prayer for the survival of the population of Ontario. They have an academic problem in their schools and the provincial government’s suggested solution makes me weep!

Last August, the education office which administers standardized assessments in the province, said math test scores among public elementary students in Ontario have been falling over the last five years. The agency also suggested that efforts by the previous Liberal government to reverse the trend haven't worked. Fewer than half of Grade 6 students met the provincial math standard last school year, and Grade 3 results are also in a steady decline.

Some possible remedies might include some curriculum revision, an analysis of major problem areas, the development of additional teaching resources or inservice programs for teachers. Homework policies may need to be re-examined and more parental support encouraged, in order to help students with math at home. Greater emphasis on students learning their number facts, practising mental math and learning problem solving strategies might all lead to improved results. 

The Ontario government’s suggested solution is to consider implementing mandatory annual math testing for all teachers in the province. Teachers would be required to pass the test in order to continue teaching. It would apply to teachers of both primary and secondary school, even if they do not primarily teach mathematics, senior government sources reported! 

Their brilliant solution to the failing test scores of students is to implement mandatory math tests for teachers! I repeat, to improve student math scores make teachers take math tests! That would make as much sense as trying to reduce traffic fatalities by having automobile salesmen take compulsory defensive driving courses! In both examples, the solutions are not directed at the cohort with the problem - the failing math students or drivers in accidents. 

Teachers, have all completed at least twelve years of schooling, with probably four or more years of university, and some elected government official believes they must write and pass a math test to teach kindergarten or to teach elementary reading or physical education. The logic simply eludes me! Since there are no academic or intellectual criteria that must be met in order to run for elected office, I propose that MLAs should be required to submit to writing an IQ test to determine their potential to make rational decisions and intelligent choices. Let’s see how that suggestion flies!

We often hear platitudes that a good education requires a partnership between the child, the parents and the teachers. Until there is a significant problem like declining math scores; then the teacher becomes the sacrificial scapegoat. It would be too damaging to place some blame on the child or suggest that there is often minimal parental academic support at home. So let’s blame the teacher! What else is new?