On Saturday, October 24th, President Obama made an announcement that he plans to limit “unnecessary” testing in schools. The White House feels that the amount of time spent on testing is taking away from learning and creativity.
As a result, President Obama plans to limit testing in schools to “no more than 2% of a student’s instructional time”. The White House released a 10-page plan which will help put this into effect. Said the president, “Learning is about so much more than filling in the right bubble.”
As the nation stands to end the “No Child Left Behind” era, I cannot help but think that we stand on the brink of a new future for our children. We have tried so hard to build a nation of mechanical thinkers. While I do not deny that knowledge is important, we also need to foster creativity. Sometimes the right answer is not always clear. It is equally important that our students learn how to think outside the box to find the best solutions to these problems.