A day in Amherst

What a pleasant, languorous day. I went to Amherst for the first time in ages, and though the purport of the trip was to see my brother's band concert at UMass, in my mind the trip focuses around our brief, whirlwind tour of Amherst College, my alma mater. In the ride there and back, I alternated between sleeping and reading, and then during the two-hour band concert, with the lights off, I cozied up in my chair and closed my eyes. I couldn't see very well today, since I was wearing my glasses (with an out-of-date prescription) and it was something of a relief to sit there and just listen in the darkness.

On Amherst, which I hadn't visited in nearly two years: the speed with which college campuses evolve is remarkable, and I found Amherst much changed. Most notably, two dorms on the main quad had been razed and replaced with buildings that leave you confused as to whether they're old buildings that have been newly renovated or new ones that have been purposely antiquated. I was impressed by how fluidly the new buildings fit the character of the campus, and in particular, I enjoyed the appearance of structures that are built to last -- something rarified by today's architectural standards.

The controversy over tearing those dorms down dates back to the time I was a student. One of my favorite professors from the art history department vehemently protested the decision to raze the dorms, which others argued would be impractical to renovate, and they weren't architectural gems anyway. You can't just go knocking buildings down, my professor said, because you're erasing history. In an impassioned presentation, he showed photographs of Amherst's storied gothic-style library that was torn down in the sixties to make way for a modernist, comparatively sterile building that better suited the needs of a modern research facility.

My one regret of the day was that I wasn't able to go climb Mount Holyoke or go to Flayvor's, an area creamery that makes its own ice cream. It was lovely, though, to see Jonny and to get a glimpse of his life in college.

Cultural literacy (and in defense of multiple choice tests)

You bring up fantastic points, Tom! I agree that the degree to which our education system is shaped around multiple choice questions is unfortunate, but I'm not ready to set aside that history test -- or even multiple choice-style tests in general -- because I'm not sure what the alternatives are for either large-scale assessment or (and this becomes a bit more complicated) ensuring that students learn important facts and ideas. Well, let me qualify that by saying that in my charter school, there wouldn't be many multiple choice tests, because I think that assuring a high quality education is manageable on a small scale without them; when you're working on quality assurance for a vast number of students -- at, say, the state or national level -- I have much less confidence that students will learn what needs to be learned if there aren't corresponding tests that they have to prepare for.

Although I share your objection that multiple choice questions rely too heavily on skills that don't have other useful applications, they do help us begin to gauge what our education system is teaching in a quantitative, inexpensive, and relatively easy way. The more serious question you bring up – whether preparing for multiple choice tests can promote meaningful learning (is that fair?) - is again quite valid, but it again begs the question, what is the alternative? Whether or not you have meaningful themes and ideas attached to facts (and ideally you *would* establish relevance by linking ideas and themes), I would argue that having a collective set of knowledge is itself valuable.

This is a related issue that I'm quite interested in: whether it is important to have a canon of knowledge (or a national canon of knowledge, as the history test from my last post presupposes is important). I'm a beginner when it comes to understanding the importance of building a canon of knowledge among people, but since I do have some degree of familiarity with the issue of establishing a literary canon, maybe I can use that as the backdrop for my thoughts. In the literature world, the idea of that there must be a "canon" is becoming increasingly unpopular for two reasons: (1) there is way too much good literature out there for everyone to read anything and (2) if you do make a list, it will inevitably make exclusions that can be regarded as racist, sexist, ethnocentric, homophobic, nationalistic, small-minded, etc.

Despite spending a year in an uber-liberal English department, I'm drawn to the idea that getting on without a canon is a bad idea. There is one education theorist, E.D. Hirsch, who argues in his book Cultural Literacy that there are profound economic, social, and cultural costs of having a nation that doesn't have some amount of collective knowledge. The idea is that people don't communicate as effectively when they don't have a core understanding of the world that is similar, and that ineffective communication equals disunity, less effective work, angst, etc. Hirsh's theory is, of course, controversial (and a dear friend pointed out to me that the ideas it espouses are uncharacteristically conservative for me to agree with. B, do you read this?).

To go ahead being completely contrary...In defense of multiple choice tests...In high school I remember feeling palpable relief when I found out a test was going to be multiple choice. The more progressive forms of assessment (essay questions, group projects) were more tedious and work-intensive, though often the rigor of preparing for them was often comparable. And yes, multiple choice tests do stress the importance of memorization, and although not every student is going to understand the relevance of everything they memorize, I would argue that memorization is rarely gratuitous (wow. i can't believe I just said that. maybe it's time for me to go to bed).

A closing thought ~ the caveat that my opinions here are based on subjective experience rather than empirical evidence and I feel quite open to suggestions and contrary views; I really have no business talking about education because I'm sadly uninformed on the topic. I should read a stack of books and get back to you.

American history

I thought this was interesting. I got 80%. B-.

Commentary later...