Today's Education Reflection and Noam Chomsky

I have been reading, listening and watching Noam Chomsky's view on education. I am not surprised at all to discover that his formative years in education was deeply entrenched in literature, a Dewey school, and did not know what a grade was until High School. He commented that when he went into High School he did not know that he was considered smart, and found it absurd that people were ranked academically. The more I personally look at it, the more I think it is absurd as well. Making meaning in your lives has little to do with a grade on a report card, or even a degree for that matter. After striving to attain 4.0's and 2 masters degrees all I have is the reality that I can and did. It has not gotten me economic advancement, but, rather is some regards has worked against me. I saw a billboard of an older gentleman holding a book. The sign said, Herbert was not able to read this sign until he was 70...literacy matters. To that I wanted to laugh. Why? Because the man made it into his 70's without being able to read and he is retired and happy! He was able to hold down a job, raise his family, work in this nation. He needed to be able to crunch numbers. Wake up America! The way we are schooling our kids does not develop freedom of thought, knowledge and potential wealth. It actually works against the original belief in America. Ask yourself do you want a child who can think freely, question the world around them, seek answers and be the change? Or do you want a child who is a grunt incapable of developing an individual thought and only spewing back information that comes to them on a test? Your answer to this question will in fact determine your value and opinion about standardized testing.