Educational System an Example of the Topic School by

Educational System Preview Need essay sample on "Educational System" topic? We will write a custom essay sample specifically for you Proceed Standardized testing dates back to 2200 BC in China where it was used to judge the knowledge of the people coming into civil services. Standardized testing did not only confine itself to China, but it spread to Europe and US as well. Standardized testing which is very common here is not an effective method, and therefore it should be discontinued. Standardized tests give wealthy students an edge over less affluent students. Various test centers for SAT, GRE prepare millions of students all around the world for standardized tests. Secondly, precious time, resources and energy of the schools are wasted to prepare the students for standardized tests. Thirdly, standardized testing paves the way for tougher standards on some educational institutions who produce low scores which can make their staff less motivated and cause them to intentionally increase the scores of their students. Lastly and most importantly standardized tests cannot handle pretty very well it is biased against people belonging to minorities and from other cultures whose native language is not English. Standardized testing is not something new in fact it has a very long and rich history. It was first used in China in around 2200 BC. People who were interested in civil service, an occupation considered highly respectable, had to clear a standard test. The exams mostly tested rote memorization of received wisdom. However, in 1905 standardized tests were disbanded because of a reform movement. Standardized testing was not only confined to China, but Standardized testing was also present in Europe during the Middle Ages. Many universities used tests as part of their entrance exams, in addition to interviews and other measures.By 1803, the use of written exams was widespread throughout Europe because of problems with the oral exam system. In the United States, standardized tests appeared in the mid 19th century. Standardized testing has become very common in the US because of it can be easily implemented and administered to judge the acquired knowledge. Standardized testing itself is not bad, but the way it is used makes it ineffective and unethical. It is used mostly as a sole determining factor for promotions, educational advancement, graduation, admission, etc. which makes it futile and ineffective. The reasons which account for this factor are as follows Our Customers Often Tell EssayLab support: I'm don't want to write my essay. Because I want to spend time with my family Essay writers suggest: Order Papers On Essaylab.Com Best Essay Writing Service Reviews Professional Writing Services Buy College Papers Online Academic Writing Services Another draw back of standardized testing is that it influences teaching or the instructors. (Golan, 3) Before giving a test, the teachers have a general idea of what they will give in the test and therefore they intentionally or intentionally focus on the important areas and leave out the other chapters, sections, etc. which are not important from the point of view of exams. These left out chapters might not be important from the examination point of view, but they might be very important for a childs professional development. Secondly, in most of the cases instructors who teach the students also administer and grade the students who might also have a negative impact on the teachers. Teachers tend to get involved in a self-fulfilling prophesy where they grade the students who they consider above average with good grades and tend to give lower grades to students whom they perceive as below average students. (Hoffman, 45). Scores are influenced by various factors The scores on standardized tests are not an accurate measure of intelligence or knowledge since they are influenced by various other factors. The three most important ones are what kids learn in school, what kids learn outside of school, and innate intelligence (Popham, 12). Innate intelligence is influenced by various factors some of them are biological and environmental. Experiments done on mice have demonstrated superior ability in learning and memory in various behavioral tasks, and there exists variation in intelligence because of genetic differences. (Dube,43). Similarly, there exist differences in the intelligence in human beings as well. This shows that some individuals may have an edge or advantage over other individuals which makes the whole procedure of applying standardized tests on every one flawed. Moreover, innate intelligence is also influenced by environmental factors. Environmental factor includes a childs upbringing, his/her culture, the role of parents, etc. In 1992 National Assessment of Educational Progress found that the combination of four such variables (number of parents living at home, parents' educational background, type of community, and poverty rate) accounted for a whopping 89 percent of the differences in state scores. This study shows how biased and unfair standardized tests are for some disadvantage students. Moreover, students from different culture have a different way of analyzing things. Since standardized tests are not cultured specific, the results they might give may be misleading. Standardized tests give wealthy students and edge over less affluent students Since these days standardized tests have become a sole determining factor for promotion, admission, etc. students all around the world pay huge amounts of money as to prepare for the tests and get good grades or a decent GPA. Various test centers for SAT, GRE prepare millions of students all around the world for standardized tests. Moreover, various online resource centers have opened which provide test preparation material to students while charging hefty amounts from them. This trend is a serious concern for the critics of standardized tests. The new trend of test preparation gives an edge to students of wealthy parents, who have enough resources to prepare their children, over children of less affluent families. (Johnson, 1) Thus children or students belonging to less affluent families have to face a transparent barrier where they cannot compete with students of well-off families only because of fewer resources or money. Precious time, resources and energy are wasted because of standardized tests. Schools, to prepare the students for standardized tests, are incurring huge social costs and are wasting their precious time, resources and energy. The schools in order to raise the tests scores are giving less importance or even eliminating programs in the arts, recess for young children, electives, extracurricular activities, class meetings, activities intended to promote social and moral learning, and discussions about current events (since that material will not appear on the test), (Kohn,2) Standardized testing paves the way for tougher standards on some educational institutions Standardized testing serves as a guiding tool for the administration to make decisions regarding funding, regulations, etc. of different schools. Therefore, teachers intentionally over rate their students to get a greater overall aggregate of marks which will increase the ranking of their schools. However, in some cases, this has created disenchantment for testing in the minds of professional and sincere educators. The reason is professional teachers do not like to teach in places where the main focus is on high scores or in which they will be pressured to produce such scores. Nervousness/ illness can influence the grade Supporters of standardized testing say that standardized tests are a good way of measuring a students ability, knowledge and intelligence.However, a score on a standardized test might not reflect the intelligence or the acquired knowledge of the student because there are various factors that might influence the grade of a child. For example, a child might become sick or unwell on the day of the examination, or he might become nervous (Watson, 3) because of the exam which may lower the grade of the child. In such cases, the standardized test does not measure the knowledge or the intelligence of the student, but it measures the ability of the student to apply that knowledge in a stressful situation. Scores have a negative impact on the performance of the student One of the most devastating effects of high-stakes standardized testing is the emotional effects on students and teachers. A student who does poorly on a test and achieves a low score becomes disillusioned and less motivated which makes causes them to make less effort to learn. Unfortunately, this starts a downward spiral that is very hard to break out of. (Haladyna, 160) Once they perform poorly on a test, they have no motivation to work hard for the next one and do poorly on that one once again, which in turn evokes more negative emotion towards learning. Standardized tests cannot handle pretty One of the biggest criticisms of standardized tests is that they cannot handle persity. Most of many of today's tests are written so that only white, middle-class, English-speaking Americans can succeed which makes it very unfair for the other minorities. Moreover, standardized testing is also very biased against disabled people. Disabilities include physical disabilities, language delays, ADHD, visual impairments and mental retardation. Such people require special assistance, a test with a low level of difficulty and a test made specifically for them which is not the case with standardized tests. Work cited Alfie Kohn, Standardized Testing, and Its Victims, Education week, 2000 Hoffmen, Schema, Psychology in action,2000 Joan L. Herman 1 Shari Golan, The Effects of Standardized Testing on Teaching and Schools, Educational Measurement: Issues and Practice, 1998 Popham, W.J Why Standardized Test Scores Don't Measure Educational Quality. Educational Leadership, 1999 Peg Watson, Pros & Cons of Standardized Testing and Portfolio Evaluations, VaHomeschoolers' High Quality Newsletter, 2004 Tang YP, Shimizu E, Dube GR, Genetic enhancement of learning and memory in mice, Nature 401, 1999

Convict in Australia Essays

Convict in Australia Essays Convict in Australia Paper Convict in Australia Paper During the 18th to 19th century, It had a large group of convicts were transported to Australia. Convicts are the people who found guilty of crime. All the convicts were transported Australia by ship and fleets. After the first fleet arrived to Australia, there were a lot of fleets arrived to Australia as well. Consequently, The Australia’s government were kept for each convict and up till the mid-1800s they recorded names, date and place of trial and sentence. The convicts were transported to all over Australia such as New South Wales, Queensland, Tasmania and Victoria etc†¦ The British government sent the first convict s to New South Wales in 1788. British decided to send the army and prison officers as well as the prisoners. They were almost all of them English from British. About 83 percent of convicts are male and 70 percent are speaking English, but 75 percent were unskilled workers. The oldest person was about sixty year old and youngest is about nine. The reason of sent the convicts to Australia. It prevented the continent natural resource and raw material which England wanted. The problems solves with British’s overcrowded prisons by establishing a new penal colony which showed promises for eventually becoming self- supporting. In 1718, British had been sending the convicts to American colonies, but the American Revolutionary war about the war of independences. After 1775, the convicts transported to America had end. Secondly, it was England but the convicts extremely unhealthy when they travelled overnight to Australia. The west India and Africa were unsuitable for convicts to live there. Likewise, diseases and climates are also problems of immigration. India had already crowed of population, so they didn’t allow the people to immigrate. Admittedly, New South Wales accepted convicts to immigrate Australia after 1842. The benefits on immigrate was the population had grown up, the successful on free immigration. They brought some skilled and money which was achieve the country of economic system. The first fleet transported all the purely political crime at the first transportation. They were the criminal just stolen the foods and clothing for their family, It only the little crime. They almost all English people and coming from London. The first Capital colony of governor is called Arthur Phillip. He set sail on May 13th, 1787 from Portsmouth with 11 vessels. Afterward, there are six ships transported to Australia. He arrived in New South Wales with 717 convicts of whom 180 were women, guarded by 191 marines under 19 officers. It arrived in Port Jackson in 1790. Specially, the first convicts’ ship to be primarily for women. The women of convicts got the worse treatment than men on the voyage, nearby came in every day to work in Female Factory. Children of convict women either stayed with their mothers or were moved to an orphanage. Young convict girls were also employed in the Female Factory In 1790, the second fleet transported from England It was unable to complete the voyage. Only 48 people died in the first group of ships, but this time 278 died during the voyage. This time transporting the convicts was in the hands of private contractors. The third fleet of 11 ships, It arrived in 1791, with over 2000 convicts. The newspaper report states that 194 male convicts and 4 female convicts died during the voyage They stared send the convict to Australia after American war of independences and Revolution and the government had stopped to send the convicts to America after the civil. Sydney in particular city, the continent was thought to be uninhabited. The distance of the countries was so far for prisons to escape and the population were also changed the decisions of the immigration. It was 3000 kilometres by sea to Jakarta, then Dutch East India. It also helped the Sydney had the world best natural. In later years, after other Australian settlements had been established, the transports often stopped at more than one destination to land convicts. From England the transports may have stopped off at Gibraltar, a port in the West Indies, South America, the Cape of Good Hope, and the other one of the Australian penal settlements. In addition, it had totally more than 2 million British and 4 million Australian are related to convicts transported from British in 18th-19th. In now day, there are no more convicts to be sending to Australia. All the convicts had immigrated to Australia and they brought their family members as well. In modern century, Australian government promote the immigration and education to the other countries. It attacks many the people to come and get a better life and different lifestyles, so now in Australia is a multicultural country. Words 781 Reference ABC News 2011, ‘Online records highlight Australia’s convict past’, viewed at 25th March 2011, . Bateson Charles 2008, ‘Convict ships to Australia’, viewed 25th March 2011, http:// member. iinet. net. au/~perthdps/convicts/ships. html. ‘Female Convicts’, Defiance and Solidarity, viewed at 25th March 2011, . Reakes, J 2000, ‘1788-1868 Convict Records’ , Perth Cultural Centre publishers, Perth, SA Rienits, R 2009, ‘Convict life in Australia’, Australia Heritage, Dee Why West, NSW, Australia