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Thoughts on our Scantron policy

The Commuter

Tuesday, November 10, 2009

I had the pleasure of participating in a school policy which I had no intentions of agreeing with, in principle. It concerns our policy on Scantron sheets. While some instructors choose to provide Scantron sheets for their students, others do not. I feel as though this is a necessary topic to explore simply for the fact that up until this point in my relatively moderate time in higher education, I have never had to be responsible for purchasing one single Scantron sheet. It was an agreed upon fact by that particular institution, which I attended, that Scantron sheets were provided by the school, instructor, or any other member of the faculty that issued the testing material.

Some of you who may be reading this might be a little disturbed by the fact that I am arguing about something so menial … so minute … so ridiculously inexpensive (20 cents) that you could find the money to purchase one just by looking on the ground on the way to the bookstore. That may be the case, but then where will it end? Are we going to have to pay extra for the use of a desk in the future? What about the lighting in the classroom? Is there going to be a surcharge for that also? Should we pay extra for the cleaning of the carpet in the class? Or how about charging the students for pothole repair in the parking lots? Better yet, let’s include a fee for fertilizing the foliage around our school so it’s more aesthetically appealing to the passerby. It’s this never-ending conundrum of extra fees and associating educative expenses that make my head spin.

Let’s try to find some consistency. If you are going to make us buy our own
Scantron sheets then I would like my financial aid to reflect the fact that I have to make additional purchases for Scantron sheets throughout the school year. I am already nickled-and-dimed to death by my bank, cell phone, electric and insurance companies. I do not need to incur any more monthly costs than I already have. I never expected, nor thought that I would associate financially persecuting behavior with an institution of higher learning. I thought that this technique was reserved for major corporations who seemingly indulge in the fact that they can gouge the consumer at every available opportunity. Apparently this is not the case.

So why don’t we all just bow down and accept the fact that extrafee-based educational materials are going to be an [omnipresent] and
inevitable addition to our everyday scholastic lives? It’s just another 20
cents, right? It’s this type of attitude that put our country in the economic
turmoil that we are currently experiencing. When we keep on
adding minutely significant fees to our already strained budget, it tends
to shrivel in a much more hurried and unexpected fashion without
ever seeing any inkling of future replenishment. If it comes down to
purchasing another Scantron sheet

in the future, I think I will: A) Write another opinionated and harsher version ofthis perspective, B) Just sulk in misery, C) Collapse in utter disbelief, D) Break down and buy the darn thing, E) Find a busy intersection in Albany and beg people to donate to the Student Scantron Relief Fund of the Greater Northwest.

-Dave Alderson

Comment

Look…let’s be honest…the luddites lost….scantrons represent everything wrong with education by intimidation that relies upon rote memorization, objective testing and bell shaped curves just dropped into the classroom for no real good reason…teachers…write and grade your own exams, use competency based exams, essays and encourage critical thinking…stop the lazy way out…all scantron machines should be taken out to the parking lot and smashed….get real….Einstein said…“an intelligent person knows how to find information, not store it.”

— Jamison Lee · Nov 16, 10:17 AM · #

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