School Is Cool

Big day today - the School Is Cool competition closed - 2500 fantastic entries, 60,000 visitors to the website (www.schooliscool.org.nz/news) - and the current issue of EA went to the printer. There's one story that stands out.

It's not a big story, not the cover story, but it's really stayed on my mind. The headline is "Asia ditches standards" and it's a report of a presentation given by a Chinese-born US-based academic on why the top-performing Asian education systems are dismantling their high-stakes testing and standards regimes.

Basically, they've worked out that being top of the tests doesn't produce the type of graduates needed for them to become knowledge economies. They've realised the qualities of creativity, passion, and innovation are more important, if they want to stop relying on cheap labour as the basis of their economies.

The thought that lingers in my mind is the way we're imposing standards and high-stakes testing on our Kiwi school - is it sign that we, like the rest of the west, are going into decline. Asia on the rise, the west heading toward the sunset.

My admiration goes to those schools who are holding out against National Standards. May they hold the line until the politicians realise what their nutsy policies really represent.

- Jane Blaikie, EA editor