Ready? Fight!

Here's another post inspired by an assignment, this time from Informal Logic: 

Consider a recent argument and present it in a premise/conclusion format.  

The following is a true story.

Just a few hours ago, I was reminded of a bitter dispute between my family and, of all places, a karate studio.  We were sent a collections letter seeking payment in the amount of $1400, despite attempts to negotiate directly with the owner of the studio regarding the cancellation of a two-year contract for karate classes once my husband’s medical treatments and the costs thereof created a long-term shortage in our budget.

When the issue initially came up, following a robbery of our apartment and subsequent purchase of expensive medication to replace what had been stolen, we spoke to the owner of the karate studio with the hopes that he would be understanding of our circumstances and make arrangements to buy out the contract or, even better, forgive the remaining obligation completely.  Our premise was simple: we could not afford to continue paying for karate classes.

In response, the karate studio owner’s premise was that we had signed a legal contract and were obligated to continue paying him for the duration with no exception.  However, he advised us to pen a letter to the “customer service department” explaining our circumstances and that “they” would consider further action, implying that there would be some resolution if we followed this course.

We wrote the letter as he advised, stopped bringing our five-year-old to karate classes, and were surprised to see additional payments taken from our bank account via the debit card he had on file.  We followed up with the studio owner, insisting that we had written the letter as advised and were expecting resolution, not more charges, and he restated his initial premise in harsher terms: that we signed a contract and were obligated to pay at any expense, regardless of our circumstances.  Further, we discovered through subsequent phone calls that there was not a separate "customer service" department, as he was the sole owner of the studio and was obligated to no higher power.  

Facing this staunch opposition, we chose to cancel the debit card he had been charging, thus removing his iron grip on our finances.  Yes, I've been sleeping soundly.

This exchange took place several months ago, and the letter of collection came today. The conclusion I have drawn is that, despite being in the business of teaching honor and respect, the karate studio owner values money over people.  He may have concluded that we are liars or deadbeats, but I value his perception of me as much as he seems to value mine of him. 

Clearly, the fight is far from over.  

A Word (or Two... Hundred) on Standardized Tests

Are you successful?  I mean, really, take a look at all you've accomplished in your life so far and all that you still want to accomplish and CAN accomplish and tell me (or just yourself), Are you successful?  

First, I suppose we should define how we are measuring that success.  Perhaps you're a successful mother, partner, friend, or cat lady.  Some amazing people I know (I'm even related to some of them!) are successful educators, entrepreneurs, and multitude other respectable professions.  One could even be a successful bargain hunter, or a great success at always doing the right thing.  The point is, there is no right definition of how a person can be successful.

Here's the thing: In order to continue funding the deeply-flawed No Child Left Behind model of standardized education for millions of American students, the government has declared the need to measure a school's success not by graduation rates or other classic indicators, but based on its pupils' ability to pass standardized tests.  Then, some number-crunching bureaucrats use more deeply-flawed formulas to determine which schools get the most federal funds for the next batch of student-bots. 

The trouble with measuring "success" based on test scores for either teachers or students is that there are so many different incarnations of "smart" or "gifted" that cannot be measured through the regurgitation of facts.  Truly, one can memorize "correct" answers, and still have no skill in manipulating the information or creating something new from it, and those acts are the ones that will indicate future success in the professional and entrepreneurial marketplace.  I will put it another way: the peons in any workplace can perform repetitive tasks reliably, but the guys (or gals) running the place have big, creative visions.  (Bill Gates, anyone?)  


In short, the current emphasis on testing, while great at training the future data entry clerks of America, does not serve as a reliable indicator of "success" in the terms we generally associate with that word, and endlessly hammering bright young minds with the added stress of practice tests and pre-tests and real tests is a detriment to their potential, in whatever field they find their strength.