Education Is About Learning, Not Testing

The Josephson Institute recently surveyed nearly 30,000 high school students in various areas of ethics. One area was cheating on tests in school.

My interest in this survey isn’t really about the specific results because it’s no surprise that students cheat on tests. The real issue to look at here is WHY students cheat on tests.

If the point of our educational system truly is to help students learn, then there would be no reason for someone to cheat on a test. As a matter of fact, there would be little reason to even use artificially-created tests at all.

IF students are given freedom to learn what interests them.

Students become interested in a topic because something is going on in their daily lives to make the topic relevant. For example, if a child wants to paint his bedroom, suddenly the idea of calculating the area of a given space becomes relevant. If the child wants to draw realistic pictures, suddenly perspective is an interesting topic to study. If a child wants to complain to the manufacturer of the defective product she purchased, suddenly learning how to write a clear, organized letter becomes relevant.

No artificially-created testing is necessary.

This is a prime advantage to homeschooling, especially in the states where homeschoolers are not stifled by regulations. You have the freedom to help your children learn topics they want to know more about when it is relevant to them. I encourage you to do this as much as possible. If you do, you will know what I mean when I say you won’t need to test your children. You’ll know they are learning.

And learning is what education is supposed to be all about, isn't it?