As the great testing machine begins to take over our children’s lives, parents are waking up to the damage done to their children, bordering on child abuse.

 

Some children are traumatized by the fear and high-stakes attached to the tests. They fear failure. They fear being held back a grade. They fear that they will cause their teacher to be fired or their school to be closed.

 

What evil minds concocted this sadistic situation?

 

In this article, Molly Rowan Leach describes the toll on children imposed by the current testing regime. She calls it an atrocity against children.

 

She writes that parents and teachers are fighting back, that they are mobilizing to protect the children.

 

I invite Molly to join the Network for Public Education, which is connecting parents, educators, and concerned citizens across the nation.

 

We have called for Congressional hearings on the misuse, overuse, and abuse of testing in our schools.

 

As she writes:

 

As the days pass, mobilization against the reforms increases, both as a protective measure and as a foundation for building an education system of which we can be proud. When I am fully present with my son, and when I join forces with his teachers and with the parents of his classmates, I can see what needs to be done. It’s our collective voice that will keep the school doors open for children to develop their freedom and imagination, their playfulness and sense of joy in art, and their love for themselves and other people.

We are not just fighting for our children, but for the liberation of our country.