The Tyranny of Testing

By Banesh Hoffmann

Book Overview

"Excellent." -- Harper's Magazine.
"A controversy has raged for some time over the validity of multiple-choice questions which are overwhelmingly the chief device of the college entrance examinations. The strongest attack on this front is The Tyranny of Testing by Dr. Banesh Hoffmann." -- The Wall Street Journal.
"It would be a fine thing if this book could be made required reading for all high school guidance and college admissions officers and committees." -- Baltimore Sun.
In this classic critique, a mathematician and educator who served for many years as a test consultant to the Westinghouse Annual Talent Search challenges the supremacy of standardized testing. "There is no escaping the testers with their electrical scoring machines," warns author Banesh Hoffmann. "They measure our IQs at regular intervals. They tell admissions officers how many points worth of college aptitude we possess. They classify us en masse in the army. They screen us when we apply for jobs."
Hoffmann's complete and well-documented account of the failings and dangers of mechanical testing illustrates the inherent flaws in aptitude and achievement tests. It demonstrates the inadequacies of multiple-choice testing, in which candidates simply choose answers and need not justify their replies, revealing the tests' inclination to reward superficiality rather than subtlety and creativity. Aimed at teachers and others involved in education, this polemic exposes the corporate testing giants whose dubious claims to scientific accuracy shield them from public scrutiny.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 048643091X
• ISBN13: 9780486430911
• Release Date: August 2003
• Publisher: Dover Publications
• Length: 223 Pages
• Weight: 0.20 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.5" x 5.2" x 8.5"

Customer Reviews

1962 classic more pertinent than ever

Opponents of the 'No Child Left Behind' act's test-driven obsession with 'school accountability' should avail themselves of this slightly dated classic. Hoffmann dismantles the claims by testing companies that their instruments measure anything more than cultural concordance between testing company and student. He also takes on the notion that test questions are clearly written in the first place, showing many examples to the contrary. He seems more interested in reforming the tests, and does not attack the notion of testing itself other than in passing. This little book should be read alongside Diane Ravitch's "The Language Police" and Gould's "Mismeasure of Man" to complete the picture and bring one's understanding of the problems with testing up-to-date.