Another writing exam bites the dust

Illinois, the land of Abraham Lincoln and corn fields. The home of Vachel Lindsay, Ernest Hemingway, and Ray Bradbury. And now? Just another state that has removed the writing portion from its standardized tests.

Big deal? I think so. It’s yet another unfortunate example of the government’s (state or federal, take your pick) complete disinterest in education. Yes, it saves money, but what’s more important than ensuring that future generations can at least put a coherent sentence together?

To be fair, I've never been a fan of standardized testing, and I even question its legitimacy. Just think, remember: sitting in an overheated classroom, your fingers covered in the lead of a #2 pencil, the stale taste of glazed donuts and apple juice in your mouth (they'd handed them out earlier, lured you in with pastries).

If the environmental conditions weren't bad enough, it was spending all that time filling in little circles on strange bits of paper, and answering questions that seemed to have been written by robots.

I'm just not sure that's the best way to gauge anyone's ability at math, or if I'd ever feel comfortable writing in those conditions. I wasn't then, and I'm pretty sure I wouldn't be now.

Still, if you're going to make us take a horrible, terrible standardized test, at least include the parts where we get to, you know, write something and be creative.