The NY Times published an article on Sunday, May 22nd about an AP United States History teacher who teaches about the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan after his students have taken the AP Test…in May.
The article praises Mr. Doyle’s efforts, and rightly so, but it also points out some of the current problems with public schooling and the standardized testing mania.
Here are a couple of bullets that stand out from the article:
- These wars will be the defining experience of their generation,” said Mr. Doyle, who is 51 and has a doctorate in history. “And they learn nothing about them in school.”
- Mr. Caperton, president of the College Board, has promised by 2013 to deliver a new test that will do a better job of fostering analytic skills.
- There is no textbook yet for these wars, so Mr. Doyle does what teachers did in the olden days: creates his own curriculum. (This is not unique, but our standardized testing expectations create an illusion that teachers do not do this)
- The moment they put down their No. 2 pencils, most A.P. history students forget the three ways the Kentucky and Virginia Resolutions, the Hartford Convention and the South Carolina Exposition and Protest were similar.
Read the full article about Chris Doyle here.
Atala Education 