Each Spring schools go into testing mode. Because of No Child Left Behind, schools basically drop everything and test for three weeks.

Why? To make students better educated? Not really. It’s the hoops we jump through to get needed money.

Sure testing is necessary. When facts or concepts are taught, a test or quiz quickly determines if the class “got it.” If not, teach it again. That is not what this testing is all about. These standardized tests are supposed to measure mastery of the basics: reading, writing, and math. That’s what they test, so that’s what we teach. Well, almost.

Actuallly, they test a narrow range of reading, writing, and math skills. We know what the tests measure, so we teach to the tests, spending a lot of time drilling on these few concepts and weeks testing them. How do we have time to really educate these students? We don’t.

Basic skills are part of education, but so is understanding our world, critical thinking, applied knowledge, technology, art, music, literature, and writing—not just formula essays, but expressive, creative writing.

This new accountability is going to turn out poorly educated drones in a world where drone work is outsourced to third world countries. They will end up getting their education from TV, meaning their ideas will lack depth and subtlety. We’ll lose our ability to be intellectual, technological, and artistic leaders in a world that will quickly pass us by.