things easily measured

Those things most easily measured become the symbols of our success.

But there are some things that cannot be easily tested that are of even greater importance.

Arne Duncan, Obama's new secretary of Education is trying to promote a common set of standards through which the success of our children and our educational system will be measured. You can count the change in your pocket more easily than you can measure your real worth to community and culture, so money and income become more important than the full range of cultural values... more important (to some) than what we offer each other as responsible citizens.

Duncan's idea is that as long as we have a clear set of uniform standards, teachers and classrooms will be free to explore methods used to reach those standards, and parents and taxpayers will feel comfortable that they are getting their money's worth.

But teaching is an art. The object is not to drive a train down a fixed track to a known destination, but to ignite fires of brilliant engagement in lifelong learning.

Administrators in education want results that can be measured, but there are many things that are extremely important that defy measurement. How about joy of learning? Education in America is a mess and I wish Mr. Duncan and the rest of us a great deal of success. In the past, with No Child Left Behind legislation, focusing on standardized tests led to "teaching to the test"... abstract test scores became more important than real life measures of accomplishment. Kids notice the difference and they hear the suggestion that abstract performance is more important than real world accomplishment.

We know that when the hands are engaged our hearts tend to be engaged also. When the hands are engaged, they provide concrete evidence of real learning. The real revolution in education may not be forthcoming soon. Regardless of how uniform our testing standards become the real test is when students leave school either with or without the passion for learning required to live meaningful lives.