Test

So, I just stopped by the Durango School District Office to put in an application to be a substitute teacher. "It's easy!" my friend, elise, told me. "you just fill out a form, and then go to an orientation where they show you a video." "on what?" i asked. "General models for managing kids that want to get away with everything?" "no," she replied. "it's about how to wash your hands."

hmm. i suppose that could be important with kindergarteners.

she didn't tell me about the little Knowledge Test I'd have to take. It was more like a WASP cultural literacy test. Mind you, Durango has a large white population, but there's also a good representation of Latino and Native American folks here, too. So when test questions asked me things like, "True or False: A.D. means 'in the year of Our Lord' ", I kind of freaked out. The font of the quiz indicated that it probably hadn't been modified since perhaps 1950, which was before "The Mismeasure of Man" was written, but, nonetheless, it emphasized so much of what is wrong with schools. if a prospective teacher is evaluated on whether or not s/he is able to correctly identify the meaning of a Christian reference before getting a job, what are they teaching and expecting the kids to know?