Testing, Testing, and Testing: More Cartoons by larrycuban

The U.S. has tests galore. Driving, alcohol, steroids, DNA, citizenship, blood,  pregnancy--and on and on. Most serve a specific purpose and carry personal consequences if one passes or fails. School tests, however, to pass a course, to be promoted to another grade, to graduate and to judge whether the school is satisfactory or on probation have proliferated dramatically in the past three decades. Opinions are split among Americans about these tests.

Surveys report that most teachers (but by no means all) believe that there is too much standardized testing. Some parents have mobilized to boycott annual tests. Mostrespondents to opinion polls, however, support curriculum standards, accountability, and, yes, state tests.

Of the many cartoons on testing that I have located, most reflect the opinion that there is too much testing and too much is made of the results. I have found very few--none that I can recall or that I have posted--endorsing standardized tests. Here is a sampling of those cartoons.

For those readers who wish to see previous monthly posts of cartoons, see: “Digital Kids in School,” “Testing,” “Blaming Is So American,”  “Accountability in Action,” “Charter Schools,” and “Age-graded Schools,” Students and Teachers, Parent-Teacher Conferences, Digital Teachers, and Addiction to Electronic Devices.