It was last summer, and I was walking around the Denver Pepsi Center, in attendance at the Democratic National Convention.  The woman walking towards me was dressed much like every other delegate at the convention.  She ambled along in the tired manner of many of the convention attendees.  I saw her for only a few short seconds as we passed in the hallway.  And, I'll never forget her.

    Perched atop her head was a hat that read, "Trust Teachers Not Tests!".  That one pithy phrase perfectly encapsulated the experience of the DNC Convention and a majority of their party supporters.  

    "Trust Teachers Not Tests!".  In four short words, the phrase characterizes the huge chasm that separates Republicans and Democrats on the political divide.  

    "Trust Teachers Not Tests!" is all about trusting someones emotions and feelings rather than asking for accountability and results.
 
    "Trust Teachers Not Tests!" is about succumbing to subjective criteria, like "being green" or "change", rather than requiring objective standards for measuring achievement. 
    
    You can't hit a target unless you have one.  If we simply trust teachers, and not tests, we create no targets.  We have no stick by which to measure whether we are moving forward or backwards.

    President Obama was asked what his economic target will be for the newly passed "stimulus package".   He responded, "We want to save or create 4 million jobs".   Notice the outrageousness of this?  He didn't state that he would create 4 million new jobs.  He said he would save OR create 4 million jobs! 

    There are currently 135 million Americans actively employed in the US.  President Obama has now pledged that his stimulus package will save 3% of those existing jobs.  It seems like the lofty speeches are being replaced with less than lofty goals.
We are now going to spend $700 billion (money we don't have) to SAVE OR CREATE 4 million jobs.   That means we are going to spend $175,000 to SAVE just one job.

    Imagine if the National Education Association announced that they were going to spend $500 Billion to insure that at least 3% of all students learn how to read.  We'd be outraged, right?

    Well, that's what the adoring media has now swallowed on our behalf regarding the stimulus.

    We're quickly succumbing to the idea that we should trust our "teachers" and not any "tests".