What did I gain from this experiment? What standards and objectives could the teacher document? Did this learning activity correlate with higher scores on my tests, with greater gains for the school on average? Were my SAT’s and ACT’s higher as a result of the project? I really can’t say, but I threw myself into the project, talking about it on weekends and over holidays as we created and learned. I watched PBS specials about archaeologists with new interest, and have maintained my interest into adulthood.

Sadly, my daughter has yet to participate in a holistic learning experience like this. She spends her days in classrooms, participating in a strictly-mapped curriculum, practicing FCAT test-type questions, in preparation for The Assessment. Indeed, many schools  are “… at risk of becoming testing centers instead of schools,” as Maine-Endwell Superintendent Joseph F. Stoner recently stated.

Did we prepare for tests when I was sitting at the little desk? I’m sure we did, but I have no specific memories of those activities. Yet I can wrap my mind around every detail of our archaeological project, or our colonial fair, or our Indian village re-creation.

I wonder what memories my daughter will take from her schooling.

Two interesting stories have come to my attention. Doug Noon’s blog had a story (and some interesting comments) about a school in Alaska that made great gains in testing and then refused the reward bonus offered by the state. Then a story appeared about New York City’s plan to pay students for receiving high scores on their standardized tests.

Pay more to the teachers whose kids test well? Pay more to the kids whose test scores are higher? So the big plan for education has come down to a payola arrangement? Hasn’t anyone heard of Maslow’s hierarchy of needs?

Motivating teachers with a couple of extra bucks for a higher score only exacerbates the fact that the salaries are barely adequate to begin with. It is a disincentive to recruitment of teachers in the neediest schools.

Sure, I could see that a couple of bucks may motivate students in the beginning. But money isn’t the economy that motivates kids in the long run. I have seen the children of the Haves and the children of the Have-Nots.  The most valuable currencies to spend on children are time and attention. These are commodities that a little incentive money can’t buy.