the devil and rod paige

Isn't she sweet? And now for my tirade...

The "t" in Texas actually stands for standardized testing. It's the cornerstone of our education system. It's the measuring stick that determines how schools (and therefore principals and teachers) are graded. I blame this apocalypse on Rod Paige.

This week, the poor children of Texas are taking the TAKS, a state-mandated exam that forces principals to put pressure on teachers, teachers to put pressure on children, and children to worry and stress over things that children have no business worrying and stressing over.

I'm not a fan.

Sunshine is too young to take this marvelous exam, but her school is on "lockdown" this week because of it. No ancillary classes, because her ancillary teachers are helping with test administration/hallway duty. No early dismissal for doctor's appointments, because that might disturb the children testing. No parents at lunch or volunteering in the classroom, because that might upset the sensitive testing environment. Every elementary school in my district is rated as Exemplary and we just wouldn't want to lose that, would we?

Sunshine is spending the week watching inappropriately rated films, playing iStation on the computer, and going to the park down the street for recess. Two of the 1st Grade classes are too close to the testing wing, so they've divided those students up among the other classes. More chaos contained in a tiny classroom prison. Super. I feel really good about waking up early to iron her clothes each morning to send her off for this riveting educational experience. I'm just being a brat, because of course she's still doing work, but isn't it a little early in the year to be acting like it's the last week of school?

And because I, along with esteemed educator Charlotte Mason, object to "learning that we may know, not that we may grow," I would like to leave you with this quote by Winston Churchill, who I think turned out pretty well.

I had scarcely passed my twelfth birthday when I entered the inhospitable regions of examinations, through which for the next seven years I was destined to journey. These examinations were a great trial to me. The subjects which were dearest to the examiners were almost invariably those I fancied least. I would have liked to have been examined in history, poetry and writing essays. The examiners, on the other hand, were partial to Latin and mathematics. And their will prevailed. Moreover, the questions which they asked on both these subjects were almost invariably those to which I was unable to suggest a satisfactory answer. I should have liked to be asked to say what I knew. They always tried to ask what I did not know. When I would have willingly displayed my knowledge, they sought to expose my ignorance. This sort of treatment had only one result: I did not do well in examinations.

Winston Churchill My Early Life 1923 p 156