Is This Knowledge?

I feel that most of my classes were a lot like the Tyler rationale in the ways that almost every single one of my teachers had a set goal that they wanted each of their students to achieve. My Phys-Ed class, oddly enough, really brought out my experience with the Tyler rationale. They tested us at the beginning of the semester then again at the end of the semester to see how much we improved in the physical testing. I feel that in all of my classes I had to write some sort of Final Test that put all of the knowledge and the curriculum itself from that entire class onto sheets of paper and we had to answer all of the questions it asked in a certain duration of time, which then gave us a final mark for the class that either reflected our knowledge of the content in that class poorly or strongly. I feel that my high school experience with having Final Tests is reflected strongly through this quote made by Tyler in the article: “it is the reactions of the learner himself that determine what is learned” (p.59). Just to sort of expand on that, I think that it means that what we say or what we do as students is all reflected based on what we have learned prior. For example, I gave a presentation based on Inclusive Education. My entire presentation was based around what we had covered in that class, therefore my presentation reflected on the knowledge I had absorbed and what I had learned. I do not enjoy giving presentations, I get very nervous. I do not like speaking in front of people who I think are more superior than me. Even though I feel this way about giving presentations, it was still required of me to give a presentation in order for me to receive a grade on this portion of the class. How were they grading me on my presentation? Were they grading me on my content or for my performance, or for both? If I was nervous (which I was), did I get docked marks for stuttering, or loosing my breath, or speaking too fast? And to add, its sort of ironic in the way that right now in this blog post I have to write about what I know about the Tyler rationale in order to receive a grade on this portion of my ECS 210 class. Don't get me wrong, I enjoy writing, therefore I enjoy being able to strongly demonstrate the ways in which I feel comfortable in portraying my knowledge!

I feel that some of the limitations that this rationale contains is the fact that it expects so much out of a learner. That they are expected to take in all of this knowledge and be able to construct it, perform it, and demonstrate observable skills. Everyone learns differently and I feel that this is “over reaching” what some learners are capable of doing, or incapable of doing. We aren’t allowing our learners to portray what they know in the ways that they know how. We are pushing our learners too far and not making any room for accommodations.

Aside from the limitations, there are also benefits. Primarily for those who are strong at demonstrating and portraying knowledge in an “acceptable” way. This rationale is great for those who are strong in these demonstrative areas and know how to portray their knowledge.