My least favorite four letter word

It is FCAT day today in Florida. Certainly a useful, exciting time for teachers and students. On that note, here is a great editoral on the joy of FCAT. An excerpt:

"Now picture those same average eighth-graders, around 13 years old, who face two 80-minute language arts exams, two 80-minute math exams, and a 45-minute writing exam. Wow, that seems like a lot, doesn't it?But, our students are still not done, since there is also a 60-minute norm reference test for language arts and another 60-minute norm reference test for math.The grand total for all Florida eighth-graders this year is then an astonishing eight hours and 25 minutes of standardized testing."

and this...
"Compare this to the Florida Bar Exam, necessary for practicing law, weighing in at six hours or the Graduate Record Exam (GRE) that most graduate schools use as an entrance exam to the lofty heights of master's and doctoral study; that takes a mere three hours and 15 minutes.The Scholastic Assessment Test (SAT) that high school graduates take to enter college is even more telling at only two hours and 30 minutes. Is it really necessary for our yearly achievement measure to take so much time?" (emphasis added)

Some really good points. Actually off by a couple of hours, because there is also the science section!