Candidate for State Superintendent Comes to Santa Paula
Ventura County Star
By Anne Kallas
Larry Aceves, a candidate for state schools superintendent, said today in Santa Paula that he would change the emphasis of education in California from standardized testing to critical thinking.
“Those in business understand kids need to think differently than they did 10 or 15 years ago,” he said in a speech to the Santa Paula Rotary Club. “We’re not teaching kids to do critical thinking. They don’t know how to think for themselves.”
Aceves decried “bubble tests,” or standardized testing, saying he wants California to once again become the national leader in education. “I’m a native California and I had the pleasure of going to California public schools, which were the best in the nation. People moved here because of the schools,” he said.
Although Ventura County schools Superintendent Stan Mantooth, who helped introduce Aceves, said the candidate must be “a bit of a masochist” to seek the state position, “I feel he is the best candidate. We need someone like Jack O’Connell, who is an educator and understands education.”