But what if I don't want a standard education for my kids?

It was one of those statements that stops you dead in your tracks. They come rapidly these days; random pundits speaking with the assurance of weatherman giving a forecast for the next half-hour.

This time, it was such an authority on childhood education that dropped the breath-stealing bomb on the radio. I've searched in vain for her name in the station's on-line archives, but I can't really even remember which it really was. However, after a few intellectual stutters resulting from the shock of the issuance, I could grasp the full meaning of her comments on the basic, essential validity of "teaching to the test."

In one sweeping defense of poor teaching and standardized testing she uttered, "...There's nothing pedagogically wrong with the idea of teaching to the test, as long as what you want [them] to learn is on the test."

Sounds reasonable, right? You want kids to learn math, teach them math. However, this phrase was used by someone who, in the context of the conversation, was defending the status quo of this practice in today's schools. So, to keep this as short as possible, she was saying (as defined by the vast majority of standardized test given nationally) is that all our kids need to know to get by in this world is the ability to score reasonably well in a multi-hour, multi-day testing regimen consisting of reading, writing, math and science.

Think about that for a while. Think about how that equation might work differently for a third-grader (a nine year-old!) and how that might differ from a senior in High School. And if that statement still makes sense, you're simply not paying attention.


Where is the emotional component? Maturity? Right from wrong? The value of volunteering? Creativity? Physical exercise? Music and Art appreciation? Nature? Outdoor play? Or perhaps even the idea of compassion? There are no measurements of these things and there is certainly no incentive whatsoever to "waste" time on them since they will not be tested. Considering that this practice of teaching to the test starts in most kindergartens,this whole idea scares the hell out of me.

How do we change it?