(October 4, 2004) — At the front of Ira West’s class, among the many posters and quotes, hangs one of particular significance. “Do not let your schooling interfere with your education,” by Mark Twain. High school has gone from preparing you for life, to preparing you for college to preparing you for a test you take to get into college. Now high school is laden with test after test, standard after standard. Academics are no longer about learning the subject but about memorizing names, dates and equations. Even the teachers that break this mold eventually arrive back in its confines because there is always an AP or state test to take. Standards-driven curriculum is exactly why there are low test scores. Classes are boring and unrewarding. Application is the biggest thing missing from our curriculum. Finding the density of pennies is great and all, but why should we care? Most teachers fail to answer that question and lose their students. But the fault does not only lie with the teachers. The state is the real problem. The government and lawmakers always seem to push education to the side. Classes are overcrowded and teachers underpaid. We’re supposed to be the future of America, yet have to sit in a class with 39 other beacons of hope. Despite all this, the state wants to see how we’re doing, so they test us. Consequently, teachers prepare us for the test we need to take. This cycle of testing has become inevitable, but teachers shouldn’t just stick to the standards. Please go beyond the bright yellow standards posted on your walls. School is about learning things, but it should also be about learning ideas. Too often students cram in facts the day before the test, only to forget them by the next day. These things and facts need to be interwoven to create a bigger picture. The state just doesn’t get it. Contrary to popular belief, standardized tests are what’s ruining education. You have to study countless hours for tests, but you don’t study the material, you study the test. These tests are taking away from our education and leaving us as fact reciting drones as opposed to the insightful intellectuals we should be.