Academic testing operates on the assumption that the individual being tested would not learn the material they are being tested on without the incentive of a positive marker (A+) or a negative marker (F-) made salient by the accompanying social reinforcement of family, friends, institutions, and employers.

And that is true. Without these artificial constructs, very few people would be attracted to learning scholastic material in the way we teach it today.

Consider this proposition: People do what they enjoy. If what they enjoy requires they learn additional skills in order to do it, they will learn those additional skills to the best of their ability. If people are already doing their best, why test?

But if people just did what they enjoyed, how would anything get done? How would we know what to do? How would we know what our purposes are? Why am I here? What am I doing? What does it all mean?

Ok, that settles it. Standardized academic testing is the only thing standing between the modern world and complete existential meltdown. True or False?

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