An object gains no weight

The popular trend in education is testing and somehow increased testing and accountability is going to magically improve our schools. Education was better twenty years ago than it is now. We were able to enrich all students more with less Federal and state intervention. Federal and state programs that have been forced upon schools by legislators fully in bed with the testing industry have not brought increased achievement. They have instead driven students from schools. They are hell bent on removing teachers and now administrators from those schools too. A basic education is a fundamental American right and value. All of our citizens need to be able to read, write and calculate. Some of those students need to be bi-lingual or even multi-lingual in areas where that is becoming necessary. They do not need to be tested. My daughter, a recent graduate of St. Bonaventure University shared that one of her professors, Dr. Joseph Zimmer said, “an object gains no weight by being measured.” What a profound statement that is made even more meaningful by the asinine testing regimen forced on all schools by myopic legislators who are following lock step without much thought to the consequences of too much testing.