It took 15 years for somebody to admit it. Or almost two whole presidential administration’s

Reminds me of an old essay which boils down to -

In school, you are taught a lesson and then given a test.
In life, you are given a test that teaches you a lesson.

Things NOT to Learn in School

by R.J. Riggins

modifications made by H. Geller]

Do not -- repeat -- do not learn these lessons.

If we're teaching you these things, we're sorry.
If you've learned any of these already, forget them fast, before you get out of school!
1. 2. THE TESTS WILL MOSTLY BE MULTIPLE CHOICE Not a chance! Life never gives you four answers to pick from, one of which is guaranteed to be right. The world doesn't give you a "word bank". Sometimes life presents an infinity of choices, none of which is the "only correct answer". Sometimes there are only two choices, both of which are bad, but you have to pick one. And the penalties for being wrong are real, expensive, and sometimes fatal. Life is not a true-false test.
2. 3. THERE WILL ALWAYS BE A RETEST
  Only in school, never in life. Do you get to try again, with no penalty, after a car crash, after cancer, after a divorce, after being fired for stealing? You may get another shot, but only after a serious penalty. And your first failure may be a monkey on your back for the rest of your life. If the schools have taught you that it's no big deal to fail, because you'll get another try, we have done you a real disservice.
3. 4. THEY CAN'T FLUNK ALL OF US
  Yes, they can. They're not going to "curve the grades" so that only a small percent fail. Take a business, for instance. Imagine it's YOUR business. You're only going to hire employees who have the level of skills that you want. You will not hire, or will quickly fire, all who don't measure up -- even if that means "failing" 98%. If you don't follow such "unfair" practices, your business itself will soon fail. Would you trust a company that never rejected or fired any employees, no matter how lazy, incompetent, or dishonest they were?
4. 5. YOU GET TO PASS, ALONG WITH YOUR BUDDIES
  After eight years of this being true, it takes some kids a long time to realize that it is no longer true. After high school it's even worse. The world does not care how long you've been friends, or if your "self esteem" will suffer when your "peers" move on without you. Do you think those "peers" are going to pass up chances to move up in life to stay back with you? "Social promotion" only happens in school. If we've trained you to expect it, we've hurt you.
5. 6. YOU ONLY NEED TO KNOW WHAT'S ON THE TEST
  If that's how we've trained you, you should sue us! If we've taught you that in Biology, for instance, you only need to learn 30 things this week to pass the quiz on Friday, or that in English there are only 50 facts you need to know about Romeo & Juliet - - the facts you drilled on with worksheets and know will be on the test -- then we've taught you incorrectly. It won't be like that in college -- or in life. A real test is a SAMPLE: out of the hundreds or thousands of things you are expected to know, a test samples a few. That's why it's hard to study for a real test, like SAT: there isn't just a short set of facts you can memorize because you know they'll be on the test.
6. 7. IT'S THE TEACHER'S JOB TO TEACH YOU STUFF
  Many schools work that way, so it's not your fault if you think that. But it's a CHEAP FRAUD. If you've learned to learn by sitting back and letting the teacher do stuff to you, then we have seriously stunted your educational growth. Here's the way it's done in colleges and other centers of real learning: the teacher provides the opportunity and guidance for learning, and maybe some clarification now and then. But learning is something the STUDENT does himself -- to himself. He goes after it ACTIVELY. He learns far more than he will ever be tested on, more than a teacher can possibly drum into him if he just sits back passively and lets himself be taught at. A real student uses a teacher, as just one of his resources, to get all the education he can. If you only learn reluctantly, passively, what the teacher can teach you, then you're doomed to never learn much, and forget it quickly. Learning is something YOU DO, something you GET, not something done to you.
7. 8. DON'T BE TOO SMART
  Yes, I'm afraid we've taught you that, too. Look at all the effort we put into getting low-ability kids to pass state minimum competency tests, compared to how little we work on maximizing your SAT. Look at all the flash and glamour surrounding high school football, compared to that surrounding academic competition -- or just getting top grades. Do we try to protect the "self esteem" of "poorly motivated" or "at risk" students by ignoring or playing down the superior accomplishments of superior students? Are we so afraid of having a high "failure rate" that we lower our standards to the point where the smart kids feel no sense of accomplishment at getting an A? Do we allow a subculture to develop among kids that says, "Don't be too smart -- that'll make the rest of us look bad"? Does school ever convey the idea that "guys like Shakespeare and Einstein and Darwin were nerds with lots of crazy ideas to confuse us -- you don't really need to know any of that stuff."? If that's the lesson, subliminal or overt, that we've taught, we should be closed down. That's the exact opposite of what we should be doing. We have been hurting you, not helping you.
If you're one of our victims, if we've unintentionally taught you any of these truly destructive attitudes, we're sorry -- and guilty. Not every student lets the educational system victimize him, though. Some have refused to learn these attitudes, refused to become victims. They have learned how to learn, despite the system. They have learned to use us, and they will learn far more than we can ever teach.
If you're a victim and never realize it, you'll join the bleak statistics: another washout product of the American school system, with a third-rate education and no competitive skills. If you do realize it, whining won't help (we probably taught you that "skill", too). You have to decide what you really want and need, and go after it. Quit being a victim. Refuse to be a victim any longer. Use the system to get every bit of knowledge out of it you can. Don't let your willing-passive-victim friends hold you back. Go for everything you can get.
R. J. Riggins, Rice University
Use or repost at your pleasure, just leave my name on it, please.

Nobody gets a 70 any more. Even if the kid only comes to class 45% of the time and hands in his papers late, his family’s lawyer will call the president’s office to make sure the kid passes.

BTW - many courses don’t have exams, only papers that you can download from the internet. And pop quizzes - not a chance any professor would dare give one.

Thats because its a war and we are not committed to war. It’s not terrorism, its islam.

There is no real strategy to fighting terrorists. There are two ways to do it: 1. eliminate their capacity. Cut off access to weapons and funds. or 2. eliminate the terrorist. And make the people that support them or don’t care hurt to help them. Not a hard formula. If a town is being used as a fortress, tell everyone to get out, don’t allow them to remove anything while they go, and level it. If they choose to remain, level them with it. When enough locals are inconvenienced enough, they will help or starve. War is not a pretty thing. But shooting and raping people in our country by these animals isn’t either.

red