[Gregatron]

Good thoughts Mon. I think there is a lot of truth to what you say about kids not being taught well in certain school districts. In a lot of cases I blame parents. Many kids never really see books until they go to school, are not read to, or taught to read at a young age by their parents. That is certainly not the school's fault. Also, many schools in the US just plain suck. IMO we have both the best public schools in the world, and some of the worst (huge standard deviation).

However, it seems things are getting worse, and while I did not mean to imply monocausality, I do think standardized testing is at least one culprit.

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The idea behind the standardized tests is, schools shouldn't be able to get away with this any longer, as everyone is held accountable to the same standard, regardless of what their courses are titled.

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Yes that is the IDEA BEHIND them. In reality -- and this is just my opinion -- kids are learning to think discreetly instead of narratively. They come into college with a "multiple choice" mindset. Teaching with the goal of doing well on standardized tests means less emphasis on developing abstract thinking and instead makes students focus on rudimentary decision making. While there are some bad schools out there to be sure, this emphasis on standardization is, IMO, a lowering tide that sinks all boats.

That said, perhaps standardization could be done that tests abstract, critical thinking. I am not necessarily against standardization itself, though I do think it suboptimal. However, I am wholeheartedly against the way it is being implemented. I think the system could be tweaked in ways that would make teaching to the test virtually impossible.