Can Standardized Tests Kill desire for learning?

An interesting article was posted by Professor Harlan about learning and teaching to tests.  As a homeschooling parent and library science student this dichotomy bothers me tremendously.  True learning comes from enjoying and pondering what one reads.  Taking in information and regurgitating it for a test is not actual learning since weeks and months down the road the information is rarely there.

Standardized tests may be a good way to determine if math or science is being learned, but for critical thinking skills, logic, literature understanding and true historical context, basic tests do not begin to determine understanding.   In the article, the author discusses an assignment given to her son to read something by Edgar Allen Poe.   Thinking that the class will be discussing the same story or poem, the author envisions tweens learning from the discussion more than from the reading itself as is common for most people.  Unfortunately, each student will be reading and reporting on a different story or poem which will not allow for any further learning by the students during the discussion. 

When education became more about teaching to the tests and less about true learning, children of all ages began to lose some of the fun that could be found in learning.  While most tweens these days would probably refuse to believe parents, teachers, librarians and other adults, it is true that most children of yester year did have a favorite subject in school.  Something that called to them, leading them to more in depth studies and more enjoyment than other topics in school.   For some of us it was reading, others it was math and yet others preferred science or history more than anything else.   All of us to this day have some area of life that we prefer more than others which makes us unique. Tweens and teens are no different. 

Spending time with tweens to help them really understand literature like Poe or Bronte, chemistry, American History or algebra can take more time but leads to true learning which lasts longer and means more.  Unfortunately, most teachers simply do not have the time to delve into these topics but must brush the surface quickly before heading on to the next topic.   Skimming the surface maybe a great way to water ski or go tubeing but it is a terrible way to teach and does all of our children a disservice that will harm them the rest of their lives.