Standardized testing came out of Bush junior which in turn came out of education reports in Regaen's time that US education sucked. That is, we've played this g

Standardized testing came out of Bush junior which in turn came out of education reports in Regaen's time that US education sucked. That is, we've played this game with huge emphasis with and without. We can't whine all the time. The goal of standardized testing was to measure then enforce accountability, which is the right thing to do. Underperformance would be met with no/reduced federal funding. It was also intended to push back against too local too state control in an attempt to root our lagards. The fed level had no other way to influence local decision making except with cash. Others have written that bad schools is a particularly American problem. The US is average or so with respect to OECD countries especially given the huge variations in student background. The UK is not acing us for example. Now there is one aspect of it's only the US that is true. And it's self imposed. First, education has been made too political. Second, education is awash in American daydreaming of idealism; it's a proxy for arguing about larger issues in American society by trying to fix them earlier. Part of that idealism which is a inherently American sentiment my child has some greater purpose, talent, destiny that beurceatric teachers will screw up. So only if one finds and nutures it then ... fill in the blank with more guessing ... cause it's not like kids know any better. Third, it's gotten caught up in culture wars all which are a huge waste of energy. We did that to ourselves. That's why it's covered and yacked about so much. We adults ought to fix our adult problems in our context and get kids ready for same. As others have noted unschooling has a nasty tinge of too much money, too much time on their hands with too many opinions. That leads to weird roll-your-own for those that afford it. I'm American and raised two boys here one now through university.