Testing Nation=Anxious Kids

Now we're talking:

We forget to think about how it must feel for kids to be solely responsible for teacher’s pay and jobs.  How must it feel for students that if they do poorly on a test it will directly affect the teacher that they love?  Kids are not stupid, they are aware of what is happening around us, how politicians and “reformers” are asking their test scores be part of something bigger.  For this text-anxious child that knowledge would have been the nail in the coffin.  People say that with this knowledge students will do even better because they will want to protect their teacher, to show off what they know.  No child goes into a test trying to deliberately fail, at least not most, and yet placing that pressure of someone else’s livelihood and dream is just too much for children to bear. [emphasis mine]

This is a fantastic point and one that bears repeating over and over again: children should not be responsible for an adult's livelihood.


There are many, many ways to assess a teacher's abilities without putting a child through the stress of a high-stakes test. It is shameful that we are putting this burden on children without any thought as to the consequences for them.

What a shame that a teacher from Denmark has to remind us Americans that what we are doing impacts the kids more than anyone else.