"When I Think of Child Development"

"Since the earliest period of our life was preverbal, everything depended on emotional interaction. Without someone to reflect our emotions, we had no way of knowing who we are." - John Bradshaw

When I see this quote I cannot help to think about what I have learned in these past weeks in my class. Emotional connections and interactions can shape who we are and how we see the world. From very early on in our lives we look to emotions and interactions with first our caregivers and then others. I now know just how important emotional interactions between children and caregivers really are.

Testing For Intelligence?

   When looking at the big picture to some it seems a little ridiculous to be having children take standardized test, right? Children are measured and assessed in a number of ways in the school systems today. Many of these tests are being administered and children really aren't learning much. If we are to assess how a child learns why not look at how a child interacts with others, how the child is reading, and even how the child's language is. I think instead of testing things that children will more than likely end up forgetting and teachers only teach because they have to, we should be assessing things that a child will use in his/her lifetime. Socialization, emotional readiness, and other factors that goes into a child's learning, other than picking out the subject of a sentence, should be assessed to how the child is learning and developing.

   Many countries tests children's abilities and intelligence in many different ways. I learned years ago in my undergrad studies how China assess their children's intelligence. During their whole life Chinese children learn and study to prepare themselves for the gaokao. The gaokao is a test given to high school graduates to determine which college they will go to (if they can even go) and what they could study. It's pretty much a life determining test. Children study for this test that lasts for nine hours over the course of two days. Subjects that would be on the test is math, science, English, Chinese, and a 800 word essay. Students have been known to hook themselves up to IV's filled with fluids to keep them going and essentially make themselves sick with stress over the test (Carlson, B., Chen, Z., 2013). The way I see it, their education system is far more intense than ours. I don't think I would be able to survive this type of test let alone want my kids to go through it.

   If we want our children to be assessed by what really matters then we should be advocating for this. I believe for something to truly change enough people have to get on board and voice their opinions to the right people. While you may feel that your voice isn't being heard, advocating is the best way to get information out there to change the results of a system that is just not working.

References:
Carlson, B., & Chen, Z. (2013). You thought the SAT was bad? Meet the gaokao. Retrieved from: http://www.globalpost.com/dispatch/news/regions/asia-pacific/china/130607/china-gaokao-exam