Q: "SAT will be changing to align with the Common Core. If our children are classically educated, are they missing something or more prepared for this in the long run? Most kids have to take the SAT to get into colleges!" A: A robust liberal arts (i.e. classical) education excels at training students in language (via the verbal arts of grammar, logic, rhetoric) and mathematical sciences (the mathematical arts of arithmetic, geometry, music, astronomy). Thus the liberal arts aim for (among some other things) mastery of reading, writing and math, the subjects tested by the SAT. At the school I used to lead, we found students scoring very well on the SAT--without teaching to the test. Training in the liberal arts will include and surpass virtually any standards set by anyone for reading (and writing) and mathematical proficiency. The bureaucratic approach our nation takes to raising standards (a good thing, per se) leads our public schools to adjust curriculum and teaching almost uniquely to preparing for standardized tests. This leads to a curriculum of "test prep" (see Tony Wagner, The Global Achievement Gap) that is deadening to students and teachers, because learning ultimately cannot be inspired by the prospect of passing some high-stakes test. Thankfully, teaching a classical, liberal arts curriculum will prepare them for these tests anyway--without making the machine-readable test the focus of the classroom and student consciousness. -C Perrin
Posted on: Thu, 05 Sep 2013 15:19:57 +0000
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