this post was originally written on march 9, 2012. i’ve edited to include this post from marion brady in the washington post, which validated everything i was talking about here. which, i admit, makes me feel pretty damn good about myself.

night before last while watching the news on channel 2, a story came up about the new texas staar test replacing the taks test. ordinarily i pay little attention to stories such as this, because i don’t have any kids of my own – though i do vicariously have three nieces in the public education system. but anyway, i wasn’t feeling well, so i was sort of stuck on the couch, not caring to do much else except watch t.v. and actually paid attention this time.

for those of you not in the know, the texas education agency has replaced the state assessment tests of the past dozen years (the taks) with a new test beginning this year (staar). apparently, two of the major changes that are “giving school officials fits,” according to owen conflenti, is that the new tests are 1) harder and 2) longer, requiring more written answers and fewer multiple choice questions.

addressing these concerns individually, to the first (a tougher test) i have to say – why is this a problem? if the tests were easier, more kids would pass them, right? but then, if more kids pass the tests solely because it’s easier, not necessarily because they’ve learned more, what would the tests prove? not much. well, except that it’s easier to get an “education” in the state of texas. but if that’s what we’re doing, we’re ill-equipping those kids to function well in the rest of the country, ne, the world, aren’t we? and sadly, that’s not far from the truth. the state of texas comes in dead last in education nationwide, in a nation that comes in 14th of the 34 countries ranked by the organization for economic cooperation and development (oecd). not even the top 10 anymore. way to go, america.

the second concern was that the test is longer and requiring constructive thinking in order to give written answers, not just getting to select from multiple choices. to which i say – why is this a problem? out here in the real world, how often do we deal with multiple choice questions? maybe when we’re choosing our meal at the counter in chick-fil-a, or deciding if our car really needs premium fuel at the gas pump. 2%, 1%, skim or soy milk? but those aren’t exactly the tough questions, are they? no real wrong answers, are there? conversely, how often do we need to creatively solve a problem, using constructive thinking, utilizing cause and effect scenarios? all the time. life isn’t about picking the right answer out of four possibilities – life is about coming up with the right answer or facing the consequences.

but what really grabbed my attention in the story was a statement made by natalie martinez, director of accountability and assessment at the alief independent school district. “what is passing? we don’t know what passing is right now,” said martinez.” so, without that, we have to push our kids even harder, not knowing what our goal is really for every kid.”

wait, what? when did simply “passing” become the goal? more importantly, why is “passing” the goal? shouldn’t acing the test be the goal? shouldn’t we be pushing our kids harder – teaching them to excel at everything they do? why teach them that all they have to do is simply pass? why only equip them with the bare minimum? if you don’t instill in their young minds that they need to perform their absolute best at everything they do, and instead reward them for accomplishing the minimum required, what is your net result? an adult that goes out into the world, wondering why she can’t seem to get ahead doing the bare minimum. an adult that becomes bitter and disillusioned when passed over time and again for a promotion because the guy that worked harder got it. yes, yes, you can get by coasting on only what is required. there are plenty of average people in the world that are perfectly happy with where they are. but those that work harder, that push further, that apply themselves more – they are the ones that get rewarded.

moreover, if educators are going to pat themselves on the back when all they’ve accomplished was getting kids to pass the test and no more – what happens when those kids that can’t reach even that level fall behind? by definition, they become less than average. everything is that much harder for them. they drop out of school. they go out into the world equipped only to take low-wage, minimum-skill jobs. and now we’ve come full-circle, haven’t we? now we see how we’re not the smartest state – or the smartest country. we’re not teaching our kids how to think for themselves. we’re teaching our kids how to pass a test.

the education system in texas – in america – needs to understand this fundamental flaw in their methodology. you can’t simply teach kids to pass the test. you have to teach kids the skills they need to compete in the real world. this is what those countries in the top 10 are doing. they’re not sitting back, congratulating themselves for producing average adults. they’re pushing their kids, and themselves, to produce smarter, well-rounded, skilled adults. and when you break that down to the classroom level – what you get is this: the kids that do really, really well, they’re going to achieve high-marks on those tests. but even those kids that don’t do as well, they’re still striving for that higher bar. and when they fall behind from the higher bar, they’re still going to be leaps and bounds ahead of the pack – instead of running with it, or worse, cleaning up after it.