Here is a book that I chose to read over more than just once to savor poignant images, but mostly to tamp down (just a little bit!) my enthusiasm for the subject matter. As someone who's had the privilege of working in both K-12 and university settings, McIntosh's observations reveal the wry realities of teaching in the 21st century. I agree, wholeheartedly, with her assessment of the language skills of so many college freshman. I see along with her by her very lucid description of third party players in the educational scheme (such as banks, lenders, corporations who sell tests and test materials, etc.) that our U.S. higher education system is in peril and that as educators and parents, it's up to us to take corrective action.

Where and how we tackle that feat is where McIntosh and I disagree. Like so many academicians, politicians, and folks who crave a simple heuristic to tackle a complex problem, the usual answer is "throw more money at it!" That's not to say that more money wouldn't make it better for higher education. More money could just make it easier for administrators to pay adjunct faculty living wages... but would they? Or would administrators' salaries just suffer from yet more bloat? I don't believe that more money alone is the answer to the issues McIntosh raises in her book. And what about the giant invisible elephant in the classroom? The elephant's name is "Who," and dare we ask, "Who" deserves to be in the classroom? Politically incorrect opinion though it may be, perhaps we need to admit that not every student is fit to be in college, and that university administrators' quest for the illusory 100% graduation rate is pure folly!

Making young adults fit for college has as much to do with developing moral fiber as it does with having the basic material necessities to support success in the classroom. McIntosh says: "Students and parents who are eager to place blame everywhere but on the student may be following the lead of so many public figures who refuse to accept blame for their own failures." Just consider the actions of Hollywood parents in trying to get their own slacking children into premier institutions of higher learning!

McIntosh's observations are keen, pithy and especially timely. Whether you want a hearty belly laugh or want a deep good cry, read this book; it's a valuable resource for parents, educators and eager students, too. ( )

Certainly an eye opener! An in-depth and insightful critique of the American education system however arguments are transferable to any education system using standardise testing. The example used add humour until the realisation dawns that these are the interpretations and comments of the future generations. ( )

The author admonishes the reader to not puke. I find it hard to not puke when I realize my taxes fund this broken education system.

I agree with everything McIntosh says.

The funny examples of what the students submit became, after a few chapters, not very funny. These people will be taking care of me at the nursing home in my old age. Toilet scrubbing? No problem! Reading the directions on medication I will need to survive? God help us!

Thank you for an enlightening book, but at the same time, no thanks for the nightmares resulting from reading it. ( )

I received this book through the Library Thing Early Reviewers Program.

I read the ebook using the Kindle app on an iPad Mini.

Sarah E McIntosh is an American educator with experience mainly in the tertiary sector. As a teacher of English at that level, she became concerned at the inability of students to understand texts, to understand tasks, to write in a coherent manner, and to be responsible for their work. So she went looking for a reason to explain the issue. She believes that standarized testing, or more precisely the types and number of standardized tests, and the emphasis placed on them, is to blame.

McIntosh argues that this testing removes teachers’ judgement and professional assessment, fails to measure many important aspects of a child’s education, and teaches students that being able to answer a multiple-choice question correctly is more imprtant than understanding the concept being tested. She has other issues with testing as well.

She writes as an educator in Florida, USA, and to be fair, this reviewer’s experience is limited to schools in Queensland and Victoria, Australia. So while we are very far apart geographically, I can assure her that many teachers in Australia are also worried about the emphasis placed on standardized testing here. That said, it seems as if students (and their teachers) in Florida endure significantly more of these tests than their antipodean colleagues do.

To demonstrate the fall in standards that she has noticed, McIntosh includes many samples of student work. I would have to agree with her that many of the students should not be studying English (or perhaps anything at all) at College level. But that is the myth these students and their families have been sold: that a College education is essential. As it turns out, it’s not necessarily.

McIntosh is also very strong with her disapproval of the use of standardized test results to reward the “better” teachers. She makes the case, very clearly, that better results by students on a standardized test does not make one a better teacher. There are so many other factors at play here, that to use test scores as a basis for bonuses or promotion is simply an unfair use of the data produced in the testing.

As far as the tests themselves go, so much is missed by very narrow and sometimes flawed tests that they really don’t give a good indication of a particular student’s abilities. One positive use of standardized tests is to give systemic or state-wide indications of trends, but you don’t have to test every student in a cohort to achieve that. A mathematically sound sample size would do.

McIntosh refers to the PISA tests which compare students of different nationalities and/or sectors. Australian schools are apparently involved in this program also. A couple of things worth noting about PISA: the only people who ever seem to refer to them are politicians, and I would guess that most of them would have no idea where the data came from or what exactly it means. Secondly, I spent 39 years in a variety of schools in two different states of Australia, and not only were PISA tests never conducted at a school I worked in, I have never known a teacher who has any experience with them. I have sometimes wondered if they are real.

I thank Sarah McIntosh for her addition to the discussion around modern education. My only criticism of the piece is that sometimes, in her anger, she lets the academic argument fall away and her writing becomes a bit “chatty” and sarcastic.

Finally, a farming analogy comes to mind: “You can keep weighing the pig, but that won’t make it any fatter”. ( )