>It points to a problem in the test itself Please forgive what might be construed as quibbling, but I'm increasingly dismayed by the doxa that poor scores on t

>It points to a problem in the test itself Please forgive what might be construed as quibbling, but I'm increasingly dismayed by the doxa that poor scores on tests reflect poor testing practices. To be clear, testing practices in the U.S. are crappy, but so is the secondary education system in general (at least, compared to much of Western Europe). More to the point: these results point to a problem either with the test or with the educational system, or with the cultural values surrounding education in the U.S. My bet, having lived on both continents, is on the latter. I invite the reader to read Assimov's 1980 essay A Cult of Ignorance, as it provides a good description of what I believe to be the fundamental problem.