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The former cannot be summarized, but it is the case that the world is no better than it used to be. There are all kinds of problems: crime, unemployment, international conflict, environmental degradation, social disorder, private discontent, and on and on, and having no other recourse, everybody looks to ‘education’ that is, to the schools, for the cure. But there is no agreement as to what the schools should be doing since there is no generally accepted definition of education.

Originally the word meant to lead out of ignorance. Today it means whatever happens in the schools, but the public is not altogether pleased with what happens in the public schools, and the only thing any one can think of is more tests. But there are problems.

An obvious difficulty is that standardized tests use up a lot of time and are particularly open for deception on the part of giver and/or taker. (Think Atlanta.) But Nader, I think, was referring to larger matters.

First, standardized tests test only memory and guessing. They require, really, little thinking, that is, arguing from premise to conclusion, the foundation of rational thought. True, some tests will present blocks of information which, when examined, contain answers, but even that is more memorizing than thinking.

Also, standardized tests promote teaching to the test, and thereby ignore most of what goes on in the mind and the world. They narrow rather than widen perspectives. They look to the contemporary gospel of scientific measurement which teaches that what can be measured should be measured and therefore should be valued. Anything immeasurable, the deeper world of significance, purpose, and human values, may be regarded as ‘personal opinion’ and therefore ignored.

Consider, knowledge is knowing how to do something; wisdom is knowing why. Standardized tests measure (if they do) knowledge, not wisdom.