Today, the Las Vegas Review-Journal ran a letter from a teacher about standards and testing.  It was both touching and practical.  Her story ends like this:

Let’s get back to studying science, teaching cursive writing, the stock market, great literature and history, and a remarkable thing will happen: Teachers will love to teach again and students will be a bit uncomfortable. They will stretch, be nervous and learn determination. Then, ten years later, they will still remember the requirements of an assignment that changed their lives and share it with their aging teacher.

I sent her an email thanking her for this letter.  Wise words as we start a new school year.