OPINION — With the school year beginning, it’s time to gear up for the start of school in every way.

Over the years, slight adjustments in the school day schedule can have more negative impacts on our students than most parents know. Consider the following activities and subjects: recess, P.E., music, art, social studies, classic literature, poetry, cursive, dance, recorders, grade-level programs, read-alouds and field trips. What do all these have in common? They are all being systematically cut back or cut out of the school day because they are not tested subjects. Ironically, they are the experiences that we remember fondly about school.  Especially in the early grades, engaging activities like those mentioned are what help our young students enjoy school and most importantly, inspire lifelong learning. 

Elementary school is the place where children are introduced to new ideas, appreciation of the arts, sports, recreation, and the larger world around us. It is even more crucial to those students whose families do not have the means to expand their horizons. It unfairly limits the experience of the same students who struggle academically. Some would say that the main purpose of education is only reading, writing and arithmetic. My argument is that the scales have been tipped too far in the direction of academic achievement only gauged by test scores. (Click here to read my previous letter to the editor titled “We live in an educational era of ‘no child left untested’”.)

For example, when test scores are scrutinized as the only means of judging the effectiveness of a district, a school and a teacher, pressure is applied. The amount of time teachers must spend in meetings looking at scores, grading tests and completing spreadsheets has grown exponentially. This also impacts their time to plan and prepare extracurricular activities, which often take more time and money. The result is more test prep, more drills and less time for the things that aren’t tested.

As a teacher, I have seen these cutbacks, sometimes suggested, sometimes mandated. Recesses have been skipped or turned into a bathroom break. My point is that we have reached the tipping point. The negative outcomes of widespread test score obsession is hurting the very students we want to help. In my over 30-year career as a teacher, I remember when “play” was valued. We are living at a time when pediatricians agree children need to get more outside exercise, and we are cutting back on that time in favor of indoor academic pursuits.

We are also living at a time when younger students are experiencing depression, poor school attendance, lack of motivation and behavior problems. Schools have taken away or cut back on the very things that engage students and allow them to enjoy learning. Did anyone ever say their favorite thing in school was test preparation? How many of us were inspired in school to pursue lifelong interests in the arts, science, history, etc., by extracurricular activities?

Teachers are not consulted or are consumed themselves about how their students’ test scores will reflect on them. Administrators are unempowered unless their test scores are high. Legislators who make the laws that cause the test score obsession, don’t see the unintentional outcomes. 

The only way of rebalancing the school day with a healthy dose of non-tested enrichment is for parents to pay attention and speak up. Administrators and legislators will listen to parents. Most parents remember their extracurricular activities and want the same for their children. Everyone agrees that academics are important, but test scores often don’t show accurately what a young child has learned. There are so many more indicators of learning and growth that can be depended upon. Why reduce a student to a number on a test? Schools need to stop obsessing over the test score numbers and begin looking again at each child as an individual searching for belonging and meaning.

Submitted by ELLEN BENNETT, Washington City. Bennett taught for 27 years in Washington County elementary schools. She attended Brigham Young University and graduated from Southern Utah University with a Master’s in Education. Besides teaching kindergarten and first grades, she spent the last 10 years teaching fourth grade at Coral Canyon Elementary.

Letters to the Editor are not the product of St. George News, its editors, staff or news contributors. The matters stated and opinions given are the responsibility of the person submitting them. They do not reflect the product or opinion of St. George News and are given only light edit for technical style and formatting.