What is wrong with the US education system?

[Don Shepherd]

(10-28-2014 05:34 AM)JimP Wrote:  One of the key differences, at least in the 1970s -- is it any better --? is the propensity for multiple choice exams in the US rather than longer questions with elements of partial credit depending on how much work one showed, thought processes etc.

Those multiple-choice tests are still there and probably always will be due to the cost-effectiveness and consistency of automated versus manual scoring. Many non-math-based tests have written essay type questions where students can write whatever they wish, but even these (which are manually scored) aren't always scored to take into account what the student really knows.

The best test I ever took was in a college United States history class, and it wasn't even a written test at all. The professor told us that our final would be this. We would schedule a time to meet with him in his office, perhaps for 15 minutes. He told us that he would ask us to discuss one of three or four selected topics. He told us what the topics were in advance, but we didn't know which one he would ask us to discuss, so we had to prepare and study for all three or four topics. I met him in his office, he said something like "so tell me about possible ways that the US Civil War might have been avoided", and I discussed that. I think that was the best "test" I ever took. That professor is now a city councilman and is well-respected.

That is what our education system desperately needs: innovative ways to allow learning to be fun and worthwhile.