tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8056815460076050228.post368420145422619469..comments2023-11-22T06:35:25.251-05:00Comments on POE'S DEADLY DAUGHTERS: Remember the ACT?Julia Buckleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10270211923343731659noreply@blogger.comBlogger11125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8056815460076050228.post-42573472545335399522012-05-21T22:45:20.043-04:002012-05-21T22:45:20.043-04:00Exactly. Like so many things, it seems to have got...Exactly. Like so many things, it seems to have gotten out of control, and it defeats the original purpose when students take it five times.Julia Buckleyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10270211923343731659noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8056815460076050228.post-58768422572680035922012-05-21T21:53:49.156-04:002012-05-21T21:53:49.156-04:00And we didn't take the ACT upteen times to cat...And we didn't take the ACT upteen times to catch that elusive perfect score. I took it twice. The second time I lost two points and decided to quit while I was ahead. And don't get me started on the high schools and AP testing...K.B. Gibsonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00823766121193345982noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8056815460076050228.post-78976998020481802782012-05-21T16:53:29.821-04:002012-05-21T16:53:29.821-04:00Thanks, Mario. I shall investigate!Thanks, Mario. I shall investigate!Julia Buckleyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10270211923343731659noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8056815460076050228.post-66039645288242659452012-05-21T14:55:39.173-04:002012-05-21T14:55:39.173-04:00I've no doubt you are right, Julia, they are p...I've no doubt you are right, Julia, they <i>are</i> pitching to their audience. Being seen as "too intelligent" is iffy for a politician lately. My great fear is that it's both, however. Dumbing down is a general trend. :(<br /><br />The test used, btw, is called the Flesch-Kincaid scale. Wikipedia has an article on it. A search on the terms <i>NPR Congress 10th grade</i> JJMhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13404985455733545060noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8056815460076050228.post-27732528281771231232012-05-21T13:20:59.673-04:002012-05-21T13:20:59.673-04:00Mario, this is indeed disturbing.
But I wonder i...Mario, this is indeed disturbing. <br /><br />But I wonder if it suggests that they need to "dumb down" their text for their listeners/readers, or if they are just linguistically impaired. <br /><br />Either way, pretty sad.Julia Buckleyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10270211923343731659noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8056815460076050228.post-42615346428724765032012-05-21T12:24:33.005-04:002012-05-21T12:24:33.005-04:00Julia Buckley noted: "... don't you think...Julia Buckley noted: "... don't you think that lack of logical reasoning is evident in public discourse?"<br /><br />It gets worse -- this morning on NPR there was an article saying that speeches in Congress are now at a 10th grade level.<br />--Mario (of the SAT generation)JJMhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13404985455733545060noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8056815460076050228.post-58365096383509370892012-05-21T10:04:57.795-04:002012-05-21T10:04:57.795-04:00And PS, Susan--don't you think that lack of lo...And PS, Susan--don't you think that lack of logical reasoning is evident in public discourse?Julia Buckleyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10270211923343731659noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8056815460076050228.post-83275785887123102272012-05-21T10:04:08.483-04:002012-05-21T10:04:08.483-04:00Good job, Victoria! It's a fairly daunting tes...Good job, Victoria! It's a fairly daunting test, I think.<br /><br />Liz, I knew orisons for the same reason! :) I agree with you about analogies, but my sense is that they removed them because they WERE so difficult that they felt it created an un-level playing field. But yes, those analogies were tough!<br /><br /><br />Susan, I took the SAT, too, but now I can't recall my score. In Julia Buckleyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10270211923343731659noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8056815460076050228.post-1655005184422099282012-05-21T09:09:38.816-04:002012-05-21T09:09:38.816-04:00I also took the SAT, Elizabeth. The college stude...I also took the SAT, Elizabeth. The college students I currently teach are the first group of kids who had constant testing throughout their school years from No Child Left Behind. The ability to think logically is not something all those tests appear to measure. So I can see why the ACT would drop that. It is a sorry thing, I'm afraid.Susanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14080938779828043023noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8056815460076050228.post-52953069456776995802012-05-21T08:57:30.285-04:002012-05-21T08:57:30.285-04:00I did. "Nymph, in thy orisons be all my sins ...I did. "Nymph, in thy orisons be all my sins remembered." (Hamlet)<br />But I don't remember the ACT. It was the SATs in my day, but I assume it's the same thing. I wonder why they eliminated analogies, which imho are a nice demonstration of the capacity to think.Elizabeth Zelvinhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13944424094949207841noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8056815460076050228.post-5652184399538082772012-05-21T08:18:40.160-04:002012-05-21T08:18:40.160-04:00Well, now... the only word on the list that I didn...Well, now... the only word on the list that I didn't know the meaning of was 'orisons'<br /><br />But now I do. Couldn't let it go undefined. LOL.Victoria Hamiltonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04957947895990761325noreply@blogger.com