Stipek recalled her daughter’s response upon completing her French AP test. Rather than looking forward traveling or having a useful skill, she was relieved that she’d never have to speak French again.

It's a common thing too, sadly. I think standardized tests, which have become the quintessential focus of education all the way up to the federal level, are slowly tearing education apart. It becomes the singular goal of the student to perform well on these tests; it becomes the singular purpose of the class to prepare for this test. The essence of education is lost.

There's also much to be said about pretension over college rankings and such. Exiting high school, I knew jack shit about different colleges or even all of higher education for that matter. Yet I still had picked up the idea that certain colleges were for underachievers and community college was a walk of shame. In retrospect, people that went to CC had their stuff figured out much better than I did, and big universities offered a trade-off instead of a better education. At the prestigious university you would get interesting opportunities in research and faculty choice. You would also have professors who didn't come there to teach, very obviously. Funds were also spread out to places other than students. Yet any local CC probably had a better equipped lab or music room or what-have-you with, stocked with equipment that students were actually allowed to touch. Professors were there strictly to teach. The CC was completely focused on its students.