Thanks, Kat...

Actually, money from the federal government goes *in*directly to the schools thru "No Child Left Behind"... The money goes to the states with a mandate that testing regiments be in place for the schools to be able to access the funding...

Back to testing... Virginia has an appropriate acronym for it's test: S.O.L. (Standard of Learning or in some folks opinion "Shit Outta Luck"...lol...

But I don't place the blame for the failings of schools to teach critical thinking only on "No Child"... Yeah, "No Child" is certainly a major player but our country has been in a downward spiril for decades in terms of teaching people to think... It's a very complex issue/problem that has to do with the changes in our society, our families, our information systems, our consumer mentality and our use of free-time, just to name a few...

But, no matter... It is a problem that we desperately need to address if we are going to remain a competitive nation in a global and increasingly tribalized world economy ...

Bobert on the road