Continuing the trend to squeeze everything out of education that’s not related to a test, the fine arts are slowly being downsized in Massachusetts – and many other places in the US. Some of the blame is, of course, assigned to "declining budgets" but the state’s sharp increase in English, reading and math teachers tells a more accurate story.

So what, right? If we can just get the kids to learn to read and do the arithmetic (at least well enough for the school to avoid being called a failure), they will be well-educated. Right?

That’s crap! "Well-educated" is not just knowing the narrow mechanical processes being assessed on the all-holy test. Art, music, foreign languages and cultures, science, history – all are part of the mix that we used to believe was part of a good K12 education.

As for the superintendent who said this:

But the most important thing is that every child has a quality educational experience, and where does that happen? In the classroom with a classroom teacher.

They should be fired for gross educational incompetence.