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Just take the standardized tests and shut up!

And they let you vote ....

It's not about the tests anymore .... it's about the freedom to live your life away from a government intervention. I'm sure those kids can ace the tests.

The Amish don't go to public school and take stupid government tests; why can Mass. just leave them alone ?

Come to think of it, if I were these people I'd get the hell out of dodge.

It's not about the tests anymore .... it's about the freedom to live your life away from a government intervention. I'm sure those kids can ace the tests.

Well we'll see how good your assurances are when they try to get jobs or go to college. "Well, you havent proven that you have a minimum amount of knowledge to attend here, but your parents assure me you're smart enough, so have fun!"

Please. Take the tests. There has to be some standards, otherwise its just anarchy.

I don't know that about the Amish, (private school, yes, but NO testing? how could that be true?) I know about ultra-orthodox groups in Brooklyn, they must have standardized testing done, even under the auspices of the private school administrators.
Anyway, you reminded me of the time our older son had to take the NY State regents and even though we believe in creation (and not evolution), it was covered in one of the tests he had to take. It was so funny listening to him memorize the dates and time frames on the model tests, and believe me, we had no worries that he would believe these 'dates', it was just a test he had to answer 'correctly.'
Although, he was 17, and obviously we wouldn't have sent him at a young and impressionable age to a school that taught these ideas as a belief system.

<The Amish don't go to public school

actually, yes they do. they just don't stay in them for very long. i don't think they graduate high school.

radiohead (10 years in pa w/lotsa amish)
see also : Wisconsin v. Yoder, 406 U.S. 205 (1972) (didn't shepardize, but don't think it's been overturned.)

Correction: The Amish do go to school up through the 8th grade. At that point they begin learning how to farm. They also learn THE TRADES!

Their standard is pretty much in line with the current European standard where the national education system tracks young people into skilled trade, or on to college.

Because of conflicts between the Amish (that is, Continental European) view of a proper education and the state authorities, most of them are relocating to Indiana where they are actually protected from the school bureaucracies.

The Amish situation is not comparable to the subject case in Massachusetts but I doubt the educational establishment there could control itself to not persecute the Amish if they had any, which they don't, and precisely because of this sort of thing.

In the end the entire public education establishment will be put out of business by technology and even the tests will be administered by computer systems except on the Amish farms where young men will continue to learn THE TRADES.

"Just take the standardized tests and shut up!" And they let you vote .... It's not about the tests anymore .... it's about the freedom to live your life away from a government intervention. I'm sure those kids can ace the tests.

Do you know these kids? If not, then you must be Miss Cleo or how else would you know the kids would ace the test? Ah, there's the rub. No one knows if the kids could or couldn't pass the test, but if the law says you must follow 1, 2, 3 rules (i. e. take a test) to homeschool then so be it. It's not as if the parents don't have a choice - public school, private school, or move to a more accomodating district. The parents opted to homeschool thereby they are obligated to have their ace kids take the test. Frankly, I feel its the parents along with Ms. Control Freak who need some sort of testing. We can only *assume* the parents are against the public school system (hey, there's private school) and governmental interference. The one should ask is this about the parents' stance against the government (why do I envision back woods snaggle tooth hillbillies with this bunch?) more than loving parents wanting only the best education for their children? Having a stand off in their front yard and the kids being taken away will cause more trauma to them than taking a silly little ol' test. Take the freakin' test and keep your family intact.