Imagine if the state had scope and sequence requirements for your childs physical growth. At X weeks the child must have this many teeth, this much hair, feet this length, fingers this length, a head circumference this many centimeters, etc. The child is tested yearly. A physical CRCT. Any child who doesnt meet the growth standards will be removed from the home and put into the care of the state. The standards are exactly the same for every child. Children from families with small stature will meet the same standards as children from tall families. Boys, girls, different races, everyone the same. No exceptions. Parents would soon be giving their children growth hormones, steroids, protein shakes, and stretching them out on racks, right? Or would that be nuts? Individuals dont grow and develop in a precise, set, and predictable manner without variation. Even children from the same family grow at different rates. They get teeth at different times. One child is born bald, the other looks like Elvis. One was made to swing a baseball bat, the sister is a menace on the rugby field. Children are individuals. They dont physically grow and develop in the same way or on the same schedule. These are individuals, not clones, not widgets. I dont have to tell you this. And yet, when it comes to a childs intellectual growth, it all goes out the window. People are panting feverishly to meet state requirements as if they were reasonable. As if they were any different than the random application of physical growth requirements. As if children didnt acquire skills and knowledge at completely different times, just as they acquire bone and muscle mass. The state, however, thinks your child is one of the collective. That all children grow and develop in the exact same, predictable ways. That this can all be measured and quantified and that standards for intellectual development and growth for all children can be produced. Because there are no individuals. This is madness. And thinking that the state standards for intellectual development and growth are any more legitimate than state standards for thickness of hair at birth, number of teeth at fourteen months, length of forearms at three years, and so on, well, thats madness, too.
Posted on: Sat, 19 Apr 2014 16:54:06 +0000
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