Yup, between prepping for the MSP, Washington State's suck up to No Child Left Behind, and the actual hours and hours of test taking time, Rose has lost three weeks of school. She's missing health and fitness, library time, recess, and a fascinating lesson on the Amazon.

Instead, she's been introduced to the concepts of cramming, cheating, knowledge ownership, and school as a tense high stakes place where your job as a student is to spit out knowledge.

The MSP prep books arrived late (can we just stop here to ask why they are prepping for a test that is supposed to test what they know without prepping?) So, Rose tried to memorize median, mean, average, and mode in one night. When she got it wrong, she felt humiliated, and we, in the education field, all know cramming doesn't stick anyway. Lose/lose.

It has never occurred to Rose to cheat in school. What is there to cheat about? They have a few tests on spelling and math facts. The person next to you is probably doing different work and anyway getting it wrong just means you need to learn it. She understands that. There is no reward for faking your way forward. Rose was shocked at the amount of rules and monitoring governing this test. Once the test starts, no one will be let in the room. No going to the bathroom without a moniter. Why? Because you might cheat and talk about the test.

Which gets us to our next point. What would they be talking about? The essays they were writing. As a writing professional, I strongly urge all writers to share their ideas with each other. I strongly urge all learners to learn from each other. Hoarding knowledge--not helping your neighbor learn to tie her shoe or spell or add details--hurts everyone. This test taught them to be suspicious and ungenerous.

Usually, Rose loves school. This week she had trouble sleeping, snapped at David, burst into tears easily, and complained about the test. I think the first and perhaps only job of school is to support you in your love of learning. Yeah right MSP.

Of course, we could always opt out. Every day I try to convince Rose to opt out, but she doesn't want to be different. Next year I may not give her a choice. I think three weeks visiting the museums, zoos, and parks would serve her so much better.