Our Results-Driven, Testing Culture


The book argues that if the status quo remains unchanged, students in their formative years will continue to be schooled in a manner which produces dulled, disembodied experience; one that likewise prevents true learning and comprehension. To avoid this, the book describes how learning should emanate directly from each student’s personal experience (i.e. linking schooling to the child’s inner life). In addition, without the high-stakes pressure of external results and testing, students will be able to develop greater openness to material and be able to link learning more completely to their curiosities, impressions, and authentic needs.

“Lyn Lesch adds his important voice to an essential question haunting contemporary education: What is the cost of our accelerating test-driven school culture to children’s learning and development? He brings a fresh perspective to the discussion as the founder of The Children’s School in Evanston, Illinois. His laser draws energy and and example from this experience and offers, finally, a version of healthy development and authentic learning.”

– William Ayers, author of Teaching Toward Freedom

“In an effort to meet the shallow performance demands of recent school legislation, parents and teachers have often sacrificed what they know to be in the best interests of their children for better scores. [Lesch] starts with a view of children and their possibilities that leads him to very different conclusions.”

– Deborah Meier, author of The Power of Their Ideas

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