Jeff Rich Quotes
Testing is overrated.
This principle is very important in all kinds of human activity. We design and test or pilot test products and programs of all kinds—governmental and not. The testing may uncover a flaw or problem, but the failure to find flaws or problems does NOT mean that they are not inherent in the program—they may well be there and have not been uncovered by the tests. Often when this occurs, we refer to them as “unintended consequences.”
The testing movement that was a part of the so called educational reform of the George W. Bush Administration’s educational reform program that also had bipartisan support also had unintended consequences which some however predicted. Curricula changes and music, art, home economics, civics, physical education tended to get deemphasized or dropped as all schools were focused on was the test performance; school economic and ethnic segregation became worse as publicly available test scores by school and district tended to persuade parents who could afford alternatives (including moving) would avoid poor testing schools. By conditioning school funds and teacher salaries on test performance, teachers tended to avoid the poorer testing schools in favor of those with students who would score well. Perhaps worst of all cheating was rampant, where teachers and school administrators would change test scores or get teachers the tests just before they were administered. School systems misclassified poor testing students as having mental or learning deficiencies so they would not bring the average down. Some states and large school systems, would encourage poor testing students to drop out of school so they would not bring down the average.
If a military loses a war, it has shown to be insufficient quality; if it wins, the evaluation is good. With all the talk about what makes for an effective and quality military, as the General states, it is war that is the final arbitrator. So ideally we never want to really know how good our military is.
Jeff Rich is an English rock drummer, best known as a former drummer for the English rock band Status Quo. He attended school in Hackney at Upton House Comprehensive, and whilst there he appeared in the opera Tosca at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden.
