If memory serves, it seems like kids were tested less I remember like the fourth and eight grades… maybe 10th too. By that time though most of us were doing the pre-ACT and pre-SAT and the NMSQT… then ACT and/or SAT depending on what the school you wanted was requiring.The really big deal is writing and selling the tests... part of the reason there will only be more (never less) testing is the millions made on them. Needless to say I think there is hankey=pankey in the selection processes. So too, I'm sure Mulder is right.

There is lots of that… all the newbie teachers are fed so much theory and pap that they often have little knowledge of their fields (or are liberal studies majors). They get tested and certified at hoop jumping to teach to the test. Most are very good at that… it is folks like me that don't fit. Testing me is BS. My education was in the field I meant to teach (too bad it's not what I'm teaching) and the Ed / Psych hoo-doo was just stuff I had to wade through. I also guess that's why the NFL has such a bunch of punks for players these days… poor coaches.When the standards are written by folks that write standards for a living, to suit colleges that want the kids coming in to not require intro courses (not talking remedial here just the basic 1A level classes) that's what we get.My $0.02.edited for spelling errors... no I don't teach English though I do speak it haltingly  ;D

IMO, kids should be taught morals, sex ed and drug/alcohol awareness from an early age - which my school system stipulates as part of the curriculum. Not only should parents do this but I believe that schools have such huge impact on students that these topics need to be seriously covered by school systems, also. I'm just truly disappointed that for a woman as young as what she is, she has such "Victorian viewpoints" regarding the pro-choice/pro-life argument.

I find it amazing that anyone would want the state teaching their kids values and morals in the first place.  In my book and in my family, it is my wife and I who teach the values and morals, then we know for certain that we approve of them thus making the argument of whether they should be taught in school moot.  The answer is simply, NOI often wonder when and why Americans started to look to the state to teach their children everything.  I was raised and believe that school is to teach my child the things I cannot, such as reading, writing, science, and math.  Not drug awareness, morals, or the use of condoms.  I guess I am a Neanderthal who believes that parents should actively take responsibility for raising their children and not expect the local school board to do it for them.  I get to teach my kid the difference between right and wrong, not some faceless government entity.Furthermore, after the past three years of my son going to American schools I have serious doubts about their ability to teach even the basics much less morals and values.  We have discovered since arriving in Germany and enrolling my son in German schools (he is bilingual) that he is a full grade level behind his peers and will have to retake the sixth grade just to catch up.  This goes far to explain my disgust with American schools in General and the Belton Independent School District in particular.

I was not implying that I look to the school system to teach my kids everything. I had them; they are mine and I set the values and tone of their lives and they will use the tools my husband & I have taught them to be positive & productive adults. It is not too much to ask of teachers and schools to REINFORCE values that the majority of parents teach at home, i.e. making the right choice versus the wrong choice when comtemplating backtalking in class or not staying in your seat or talking to your neighbor as many elementary kids have problems with doing. Those are the values or morals, as my parents referred to them, that I meant in my previous statement. If that is a concept not needed in school than I now understand why there are so many unruly, pain-in-the-fanny kids in school that my junior high school daughter complains about when she's home; parents don't want these values/morals reinforced because "it's not the school's job". This is similar to the argument that many parents have with schools about disciplining their children. Parents swear that schools aren't entitled to enforce positive behavior through discipline because they (the parents) will take care of it at home yet, they fail to teach their kids proper behavior in the beginning. As far as drug education, again, I'd rather have the school reinforce our teachings of right and wrong since schools have the ability to bring in the police drug awareness units for positive educational purposes. Much better this method than the meth dealer living in your neighborhood. Drugs are not a unique problem to the U.S. either nor are they unique to certain areas of the U.S. I work for a 3rd party drug testing company and I see, everyday, who takes them (just had a pre-employment bus driver for a church show positive for coke, meth & pot) and what drugs are out there (new inhalant kids are getting into, now). So, yes, I thank my lucky stars that my school has an anti-drug program in their curriculum.Last but not least, if addressing sex ed in the school systems should be taboo...then lets turn the clock back to the 19th century! Kids are learning more and more at earlier ages. Again, I am not expecting the school to be my replacement just reinforce the facts about STD's, how girls get pregnant, etc. If you think about it, kids spend significantly more time at school than they do at home so rumors and stories run rampant about facts versus fiction. Knowledge is power and the more facts they have the better equipped for life they are in this world.