Teachers Network: How to Use the Internet in Your Classroom: Hope Reichbach

I wrote the page entitled "Search Engines: The Devil in Disguise."

My name is Hope Reichbach and I'm 12 years old, almost 13.

I go to Hunter College High School and in September I'll be entering the 8th grade. I like school but I don't like getting up early, because I have to travel so much. I also dislike tests and homework. Of all those, tests are the worst. Not just teacher-given exams, but city- and state-wides.

I am very fortunate to go to a public school, that's not run by the Board of Education, so I only have to take one standardized test until I begin Regents, SATS and APs. Although this may seem like a small break, from something that takes class time away from me, I am very glad of it. Tests are my biggest "pet peeve," I guess. I feel that knowledge and life skills aren't really tested in these multiple-choice tests. Rather, lifeless facts that, realistically, don't matter, AND everyone forgets them. Also, everyone gets soooooooo worried about these tests because they are so important. There was an article in Parent Magazine about a mother who left her 7 year old at home with a sitter, and neglected to tell her that he should get to bed early, because he had the city wides tomorrow. He stayed up, PAST 11:30pm, studying, and fell asleep during the test, and failed. These tests get everybody rattled up, in a very bad way.

What I like about school are the teachers, especially my recent English and Social Studies teachers. I liked these teachers because they had a passion for us actually LEARNING. My English teacher only gave very low-stake quizzes that were only worth a very small fraction of the grade. And my social teacher, whenever handing anything back stressed that the amount learned was way more important than the grade.

At my school, we had an assembly, where a member of congress spoke. Afterwards, there was a Q and A session. I wasn't very impressed with her to begin with, so I decided to "test out my instincts". Boy, were they sharp. She called on me, and said some facts about standardized testing and I asked her if she was working on getting rid of them. She just basically laughed in my face, and said, "wouldn't we all like to get rid of tests?" Even though I made a perfectly clear and mature statement, probably because she didn't know what to say, she answered me in a VERY VERY immature way.

As well as complaining about the school system, I play violin, baseball and soccer.