The anxiety children feel at constantly being tested, their fear of failure, punishment, and disgrace, severely reduces their ability both to perceive and to remember, and drives them away from the material being studied into strategies for fooling teachers into thinking they know what they really don't know.
About this quote
- What does it mean?
- High stakes testing creates fear that blocks learning and encourages cheating rather than genuine understanding.
- In plain terms
- Fear of tests stops kids from learning and makes them fake knowing the answers.
- What can you take from it?
- Reduce test pressure to improve real learning.
Where it applies
Putting it to work
Questions to consider
- How does fear affect your learning?
- What alternatives exist to high-stakes testing?
Another view
Some assessment is necessary to measure progress and standards.
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