(The following is excerpted from my book, Poor Cheated Little Johnny.) We’ve considered how tests, grades, grade levels, classroom situations and the categorization of children hamstring students, educators and parents. But these are time-honored tools of the education trade, are…
Some will argue that this approach to testing militates against a “liberal education”, one covering many subjects. Should Little Johnny only study what he wishes, what interests him? They will say that this will limit Little Johnny to a serious study of only those subjects that he is interested in. To which I say (between contemptuous snorts) “Exactly”.
Tests are a form of evaluation. I believe that the problem testing was trying to solve was to find some way to know how far the student had progressed. It is absolutely the case that we will need some method to assess whether or not our children are actually learning something, and ideally the something specific that they are supposedly studying. This is a problem built into the very nature of education. I think tests were meant to answer the question “are we succeeding?”