Quotes

"Healthy children will not fear life if their elders have integrity enough not to fear death" Erik Ericson, This to me means that a child is being taught to live life to the fullest and should be. In order fort a child to fully develop into their full potential they must be taught that everyday is sweet and everyday must be lived to the fullest potential. This could be in school, with peers or even on the job.

"The environment must be rich in motives which lend interest to activity and invite the child to conduct his own experiences.” Maria Montessori. This quote is perfect for child development. Children must be able to learn for themselves and be able to see the world as they want. This allows the child to have their own ideas and their own intuitions about how they want to live. If the environment is bleak and boring the child may not have the motivation needed to expand their minds.

testing???

Personally I do feel children should be tested but only on certain levels. I feel a "test" to enter kindergarten is silly. Someone entering kindergarten is still a small child and putting restrictions or an academic label on them is not right. I do feel that children should be given basic tests for their age group. I see that too many people put too much emphasis on the word test and children tend to freak out. Teachers and schools often do this because that is how they get their grant money by the scores their schools receive. Testing our children should not be about the money it brings in but about the quality of education that the children will leave with. I also feel that there should be some kind of stress test or an emotional test to see how our children are feeling and how they deal with every day life, how that test would work I am not sure, just think that they should be checked out in order to possibly prevent any type of bad happenings.
In Japan children are assessed on a whole other level than we are here in America. They begin their testing very young. Their tests also consist of academics that our children do not deal with. Those children's lives are based upon those tests given. It is to bring shame upon your family if you do not do well. The children are under so much pressure that it would put of SOL tests to shame. The children of Japan are tested on academics as well as their culture and traditions that are rendered in their country.
I never knew that testing could be such a harsh thing for a child until I learned the basis behind the testing. It honestly angers me to see that the only reason these types of tests are given is to bring money into the districts and the schools, so that the adults can benefit, not to better the education of our children.