Children Don't Need to Be Tested
Homeschooling / Unschooling

Children Don’t Need to Be Tested

Children Don't Need to Be Tested

I have that sick anxious feeling in the pit of my stomach and I have no idea what I’m going to do to get out of this mess.

No one can help me, they don’t have time.

I can’t tell any of the people in charge because I’ll be in huge trouble.

My final Biology assignment is due but I haven’t completed it. Haven’t even started. And what’s more, I haven’t even been to any of the classes all term. Luckily no one has noticed, but they’re about to find out when I have nothing to hand in. My heart is pounding and I’m on the verge of tears, but I can’t even cry here, that will make things worse.

Luckily, I wake up to find it’s just a nightmare. Although I’ve had this one a few times now. But I’m safe in bed snuggled up next to my baby and it’s been 15 years since school. None of it is real.

Except that it is.

Children Don't Need to Be Tested

That exact scenario has never happened to me before. But those feelings of anxiety, stress, dread, failure, and hopelessness are all very real and memorable from my school days. The anxiety of being tested, compared, pushed and pressured happened regularly. Whenever it was exam time, whenever an assignment was due. Would I be able to prove myself? Was I good enough? What if I failed?

And no one thought it was odd that the majority of us experienced the same feelings. No one questioned it.

Well, I’m going to question it.

This is not learning, and it’s not ok. Learning should never be motivated by fear.

Now, with the privilege of being able to witness what real learning outside of school looks like, I see how vastly different it is.

Learning is joyful, passionate, free, self-motivated, never ending, playful, easy, and natural. Learning is often private and for individual purposes. Learning has no conditions or expectations imposed. Learning does not need to be tested.

Children Don't Need to Be Tested

How unfair that children are being robbed of experiencing learning in this way. Instead it is so often associated with stress, pressure, boredom, and restriction.

I would like to say that things are different now and that schooled children don’t experience the same amount of pressure, but by all accounts it seems to be even worse. And I wonder, when will we realise how much damage we are doing by corrupting the learning process in this way? By replacing intrinsic motivation with rewards and punishments. By replacing joy with work. By sending the message that learning is not important unless evaluated by someone in a position of power.

Our children’s mental health is suffering, and their love of learning is being squashed. When will enough be enough?

Testing is not necessary for learning. Actually, it’s a pretty efficient method for killing a love of learning. So why are we doing it? Because it benefits adults, not children. If it is necessary, it is only because no one is paying close enough attention to children to be able to see all the learning happening. Testing is an easier way to gather mass data, but my child is more than data.

What a gift to give our children an education full of freedom, with the ability to be in charge of their own minds.

A photo posted by Sara (@sara_happiness.is.here) on

What will you choose?

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Comments

August 1, 2016 at 5:59 pm

I could not be more agree with this post. I don’t understand why our current education system still using the same methods when has been proof that they are againts the characteristics of learning.
Using approaches such as Steiner or Montessori would be much better …



Kay
August 2, 2016 at 1:19 am

That was one of the best blog post I have ever read! I still have nightmares almost just like that, and I am so so happy, that I have the opportunity to homeschool/unschool my two children. Thanks for sharing this!



August 3, 2016 at 10:49 pm

I’ve always felt that my child is not a number and I am opposed to high-stakes testing, such as those used for ability grouping or high school graduation. If teachers think creatively, there is almost always a way to assess a child’s progress through projects or performance, even in secondary school.



August 9, 2016 at 9:53 am

This is exactly why we unschool. I sometimes wonder why it is that all of the information is available to us on how children learn and what they need – and yet, the institution seems to methodically be going in the opposite direction. I’m so grateful for the privilege to unschool! Always resonate with and love your posts, Sara!



Dawn
September 12, 2016 at 11:05 pm

Yes this is one of many reasons why I homeschool – I still wake up terrified because I didn’t graduate high school and have been living a lie that someone will find out I don’t have a diploma (I DID graduate) and I am 44 years old. I absolutely lost all love of learning in school – but I LOVE learning with my kids – it’s was there just needed the flame fanned into existence again.



Crystal
December 12, 2016 at 1:36 am

I totally agree! I don’t test my kids in many subjects, and when I do it’s usually an open-book test. My 2nd oldest is now applying to colleges & I have to wonder how that is going to work out with no grades. We’ll see!



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