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Jimbalaya
Is the FCAT really such an exercise?
By JIM HARRINGTON
Article published on Wednesday, Nov. 22, 2006 |
With new blood in, and the old guard out, fresh demands have been called for a revamp to the state’s FCAT (Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test).
Newly elected Gov. Charlie Crist will inherit the political fracas of a standardized exam that’s issued to students in grades 3 through 11th that tests their academic achievements.
Politicians and, especially teachers, on both sides of the aisle, have blamed it as a tool that merely teaches students how to take the test.
As if that’s a bad thing.
I gotta tell ya, if I were a student I’d be in heaven if I thought that a teacher was priming me for an important test. What student doesn’t want to know what he is going to be asked on the exam?
Right off the bat, the kids are learning something even if the FCAT seems to restrict the educators’ creativity in teaching.
The bottom line on Gov. Bush’s education policy: Nobody, no Democrat or Republican, will know for sure whether the FCAT was a success or a failure, or something in between, until years from now.
If you judge whether it was a winner by today’s standards, then look out in the future, say 10 to 15 years, and ask yourself if young adult Floridians are economically better off because they have the smarts their teachers gave them.
If Bush’s plans to be the education governor pan out, (he’s been dubbed a possible presidential contender, but he officially denies it) he’ll be considered a visionary.
Some Republican legislators have gone on record as saying they want the FCAT to be tweaked a bit. Sounds good, but the students need to be accountable to some degree, which is why the state implemented the FCAT in the first place.
Speaking of governors and presidents, President Eisenhower created the President’s Council on Youth Fitness, now called the President’s Council on Physical Fitness and Sports.
Let’s be straight up front. I never won any citations or awards associated with that program in school. A few friends and I were, without exception, in elementary school the last kids to be picked for the softball team. We weren’t popular and unathletic to the max.
Frankly, I found it boring. (During my time in the Air Force, though, I was part of a volunteer squadron baseball team who could smack the heck out of the ball.)
But last year, my wife got me a Playstation and a videogame called Eyetoy: Kinetic. I’ve had so much fun and gotten a ton of exercise. You see, you don’t simply thumb your way on a joystick. You actually exercise and a special camera watches your moves and transfers them onto a television screen as you kick and punch blue and red orbs.
It’s called “exertainment,” a word that blends exercise and entertainment and makes videogames a healthy way to have fun. To that end, the XrKade Research Lab at the University of South Florida, set to open early next year, will help the college’s School of Physical Education, Wellness, and Sport Studies conduct research into whether games like Dance Dance Revolution and the Eyetoy series actually help young folks with their exercise needs.
Dr. Stephen Sanders, the school’s director, said that there are a few important things to consider to entice kids and adults into physical fitness.
Firstly, whatever you do, make the sport fun. So many adults were turned off by physical fitness as kids because it involved push-ups and running laps.
Bor-r-r-ing!
Secondly, there should be a social aspect to exercise. Women have known for years that a good walk with friends around the neighborhood is good for the heart.
Thirdly, the home should have equipment that’s conducive to exercise. He suggests mom and dad give their kids tennis rackets and basketballs for Christmas, something to get them out of the house to get them active.
Still, there seems to be something to videogames that get kids moving. Those kids who spend too much time in the house playing traditional videogames are a critical part of the problem with an obese society.
If videogames can yank them off their butts, the better off they will be.
If it can get me, an overweight adult, to exercise, I’m all for it.
Jim Harrington is the editor of the Largo Leader, Clearwater Citizen.
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Article published on Wednesday, Nov. 22, 2006
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