Are the two even related?? Yes, both pedagogically (meaning that the subject of Mythology is something that I have had the pleasure of teaching in the past), and, oddly enough as I found two nights ago, in a parabolic sense as well.
Sunday night, as is my nightly ritual, I was reading so that I could relax and fall asleep. This time, though, instead of reading my own book, I was reading a book of my daughter's, because I like to keep up with what she's reading so I can have informed conversations with her rather than just nodding and offering a distant "Oh yes, that sounds interesting."
In the book (the next to last in the Percy Jackson series, to give context), the four main characters encounter a Sphinx. However, this is no normal Sphinx. Instead of offering a riddle that, in the words of the female character (a daughter of Athena), is "supposed to make you think," the Sphinx states that they have "raised our standards" and made a change to "specially designed test material," and now those who encounter the Sphinx must answer 20 "riddles," also known as a series of multiple-choice questions.
Magically, of course, a bubble sheet and number 2 pencil appear in front of the young girl. The Sphinx, in this case described as a "regular" Sphinx apart from her excessive makeup and hair pulled into a tight bun, reminds the girl that she needs to be sure and bubble in the circles neatly, and erase her marks cleanly, otherwise the machine won't be able to read the answers.
At this point, I started to laugh, as only a teacher who has experience with students and a standardized test can. In a book written for children (roughly ages 9-14 would be my guess) to read, the author had managed to insert a commentary on the existence of standardized testing, and how that standardized testing is forcing our kids into being, well, non-critical thinkers.
But let me resume summarizing the story, because it really made me think (and no, I didn't originally intended that as a pun, it just came out that way). The girl answers a few of the questions posed by the pseudo-Sphinx, and then finally gets irritated with the process and stops the Sphinx yet again, demanding that the test make her think. The Sphinx frowns (in uffish thought - sorry, I couldn't resist), and says, "How am I supposed to test whether you can think? That's ridiculous!"
Finally, the girl’s companions convince her that she needs to stop answering the questions so that they can move ahead in their quest. In order to distract the Sphinx, the kiddos all scatter and the result is that they end up destroying her "test-grading machine," none other than a Scantron machine (what states use to grade the standardized assessments). As they destroy the machine, the Sphinx-Teacher wails in agony: "I can’t be exemplary without my test scores!"
I laughed aloud yet again, and turned back to the beginning of the whole escapade I've just described, and bookmarked it as food for thought. Why?? Well, because the author is right, and Diane Ravitch is right (I've heard her speak several times, although I've yet to read her book; it's in my house burning a hole in my bookshelf), and everyone who speaks out against the danger of punitive standardized testing is right.
Basic recall of facts is not critical thinking. Sure, recalling some things is great. However, I’ll admit I’m not great at it, and not a lot of my students are either. They learn processes well; they learn to make connections well. They do it naturally sometimes, without me even prompting them, and those moments make my heart swell with hope, and depending on the situation, pride.
However, much of what we ask our students to do between the months of January and March is not critical thinking; it's all preparation for the state standardized test. We focus on the standards that CSAP tests, and shove those ideas down our kids’ throats repeatedly until they’re tired of hearing certain words. Then we do it some more. Then they know that there's a connection between the test and the fact that they aren't learning things that are relevant to them, and in an act of defiance, they don't take the test seriously. Our days (and weeks, and months) as teachers shouldn't be measured by a test that our kids can, if they want to, design a pattern with bubbles in and still achieve a score of "Satisfactory."
I remember last year, one of the "tips" given to students about the state standardized test was that if they didn't know and had to guess, to pick the letter "C," because that was often the correct answer. Even my students that have no brighter future than a career in the service industry need to apply better logic to their choice of employer than that (given, of course, the chance to be able to choose an employer in this sort of economy).
When our graduation rate was the highest, how and what did we teach students?? When we ranked higher in the world than say, 15th place, how and why did we measure student achievement? For what purpose did we educate students?
I know that the world has changed, and the needs of the world have changed, but our students still need to think critically in order to do even the most basic things (such as make a decision about which job to choose, or school to attend). They need to be able to weigh facts and weigh issues and make well-informed decisions. I still want to be able to help them do that, and to feel like that part of my job is more meaningful than whether or not I can get my students to play, in the words of the Sphinx of the book, "Answer That Riddle."