The Checklist System, A Banquet of Preposterous Beauty
So here’s a fear I have about national standards. I think it’s going to create too much of a checklist system.
For example, I will be given a national standard to teach. I will teach it.
Then there will be a test. Scouring over the data from this test will be on a checklist of “tasks to do” for my school site administrators.
This data will be collected because collecting this data will be on a checklist for school site administrators. Then they will send it on.
Which, of course, will be on a checklist that someone sends to the district. Then they will send it on.
Which, of course, will be on a checklist that someone sends to the county. Then they will send it on.
Which, of course, will be on a checklist that someone sends to the state. Then they will send it on.
Which, of course, will be on a checklist that someone sends to the federal government. Then they will send it on.
Which, of course, will be on a checklist that someone checks at the level of the federal government.
And then, the federal government will look at all this data. And they will provide feedback on their ascertained checklist. Then they will send it on… which, of course, will be on a checklist.
Then they will send it on to the state. Which, of course, will be on a checklist.
Then they will send it on to the county. Which, of course, will be on a checklist.
Then they will send it on to the district. Which, of course, will be on a checklist.
Then they will send it on to the school site administrator. Which, of course, will be on a checklist.
Then they will send it back to me, the teacher. Which, of course, will be on a checklist that they expect me to check.
And what will that check actually tell me?
Something preposterously obvious that I am sure I could have already informed anyone along the chain of checklists if ever they had bothered to 1) ask me or 2) trust my professionalism.
Is this the new world?
Is this the current one?
Is it just me or are American schools becoming more and more dystopian?
The Checklist System, A Banquet of Preposterous Beauty