Schooling is essential to the American system. Schooling is a privilege that should be cherished. What cannot happen, though, is for society to lose sight of the importance of education. What cannot happen is for society to set a view on what intelligence and learning is.

But because of state and standardized tests, intelligence seem to have been set into a mold – a fixed view on what it means to be intelligent. As I recall from a story by Isaac Asimov, he believed there are many different intelligences and different sets of knowledge, not merely the reiteration of names, dates, numbers and facts. Alicia Valladares (a junior), reflects similar sentiments when she stated, “I would get rid of things like state testing; I don’t think they do anything.”

Many students would be inclined to agree, but why has this sentiment grown within this generation? Perchance, it has grown from the recognition that every person has a purpose in this world, or from the acknowledgement that who you are as a person is more important, or from the realization that all this tests do is separate those with “intelligence” from those who don’t.

What must not be mistaken, though, is this dissent toward state testing for a disrespect of schooling. As Kylie Beagell (a junior) states, “I enjoying being in a learning and discussing things with my friends.” This type of learning, a blend of social and academic, seems to be what high school and college view as paramount.

What learning should be is an environment in which everyone can feel prepared as they leave high school, whether to college or to a job. Schools, in this sense, should have greater range of applicable knowledge (knowledge that helps in everyday life) than it has standard knowledge (knowledge found on state tests). Because what matters in life is not knowing how old Beethoven was when he wrote his first symphony or knowing who built the Nautilus; what matters in life is how you interact with others, how you communicate, and how you are able to convey what you are think – which includes a base standard knowledge, but not of what schools are currently teaching.

On a personal note, what schools have forgotten to do is inspire, and the love of learning is only bogged down by test after test after test. Students must want to learn, they themselves must find their love of learning, and the only way that they can find that love is without the pressures of bureaucracy violating the sacred grounds of schooling, because, in the end, it does not matter what you know (you can always research and double check), it is about how you communicate and do what you love.

A sentiment of love for learning is what many teachers at Liberty try to instill by aiding us in our continual search for passion and purpose.