Are We Products of a Learning (R)evolution? (By Chris Hwang)

In the eyes of most students, every new school year is accompanied by a set of expectations, hopes, fears, and anxieties. This was no different for me and I have come to expect a fair amount of surprises. After all, I have already been a student for more than two thirds of my life. Without giving it much thought until recently, I now realize that each new school year has been accompanied by new methods of learning (and teaching). In sixth grade, my former middle school in CT adopted the common core. Imagine mass chaos and confusion among the students and teachers as the traditional was ditched for the new. Then just before 9th grade, my family relocated to NJ, which has given me even more perspective. And now, I start my 2nd year of high school. So for me, it has been one big transition after the next. I thought to myself, “can I stomach another big transition at school this year?” After reflecting on my first three weeks of attending Mrs. Kopp’s English 10H class, I can sense that this will be an exciting year for me and hopefully for my classmates. For starters, this English class doesn’t appear to be your typical lecture-style class where we sit back as passive learners trying to ingest all that the teacher has dictated. Nor have we been forced to read a ton of “mandatory” textbook material. Mrs. Kopp is encouraging us to become active learners where we have freedom to select what we want to read while developing our “own” voice to write about whatever is on our minds whether the topic is humorous, trivial, or even controversial. I have written personal journals in the past so freestyle writing isn’t exactly new to me. However, this is my first time blogging and blogging implies that I will have an audience. Thus, before starting this blog, I contemplated taking the “safe” road and writing about something mundane and neutral. However, I kept getting drawn to the fact that I have been given carte blanche to use my own creativity to say what I want to say in my own voice.

So I’ve decided to take a risk and relay my personal thoughts about a topic that is controversial and sometimes polarizing. That is, the topic of testing. The perpetual cycle of eat, sleep, test, repeat doesn’t seem to ever end. On any given week, it is a mathematical certainty that we will be forced to endure an abundance of tests. We will need to endure formative after formative and summative after summative exams. When did the tide turn? Did all the testing accompany common core or was it here all along? Is all the testing really necessary to prove that we are learning or that the teachers are teaching? And it’s not just the testing that makes many of us anxious and stressed. It’s also the amount of prep. work (studying) for the tests that induces anxiety, fear, and fatigue. I would rather be motivated by the desire to learn vs. the fear of performing poorly on a test. As a varsity athlete, I know the importance of balancing academics with athletics. But are we really balancing the “learning” or is it more about the “testing?” Last winter, I recall a two-week period in which I was tested 13 times. Yes, thirteen exams in a short two-week period. Mathematically, that equates to 9 hours of testing. While studying for those tests, I couldn’t help but wonder whether those 9 hours of testing could’ve been 9 hours of learning (teacher instruction) instead. After all, testing time is precious learning time. On top of that testing, I spent at least 15 or more hours preparing for those tests. This brings me to my next point. There are other ways to measure student understanding and growth. Perhaps that can be another topic for my next blog.

So are we products of a learning evolution or learning revolution? Evolution implies continuous enhancement and revolution implies sudden change (usually brought about by a catastrophe). The jury is still out. For now, I will enjoy the privilege granted to me by Mrs. Kopp and our new flex schedule to select my own books for independent reading and to blog about any topic that is near and dear to me. To put things in perspective, I write all the time because I need to. This time, I wrote (blogged) because I enjoyed it.