On Sunday night’s episode of Last Week Tonight, John Oliver took a deep dive into the problematic world of standardized testing. A product of George W. Bush’s well-intended No Child Left Behind initiative, standardized testing ultimately has not improved the state of education in the United States, and it’s actually caused a myriad of additional obstacles for teachers and their students.
As John Oliver explained, a large part of the reason for this is that standardized testing has turned into a racket. Companies like Pearson have a monopoly on the educational system with extremely flawed tests and grading systems, and the confidentiality agreements they have in place render students and teachers largely powerless to flag discrepancies. In a nutshell, the system is screwed and will likely not be fixed anytime soon.
But on the plus side, here comes the monkey!
