A Culture of Testing

Seth Godin wrote about the culture of testing, Netflix and what is untestable. You can read it here.

I have rewritten it. I hope he doesn’t mind.

A Culture of Testing

Many schools test everything. They’re very proud that they put out the sign that the next four days are test days and they are proud of their grades, GPA’s, test rankings, scores, test preparation, test driven curriculum, stress relief programs, stress therapy dogs, everything.

It’s almost enough to get you to believe that rigorous testing is the key to success. Results, results, results.

Except they didn’t test the teachers’ creativity and integrity and they didn’t test the children’s resilience and character.

And they didn’t test for an innovative and creative culture that valued imagination, teamwork and global awareness.

And they didn’t test  for  joy. kindness, mutual respect, sense of purpose and student engagement.

The biggest assets of classrooms and schools weren’t tested, because they couldn’t be because by then they had been destroyed anyway.

Sure, go ahead and test what’s testable. But the real victories come when you have the guts to cherish, value, develop and nurture the untestable.

Thank you, Seth.