…I had to walk at seven o’clock in the morning, in the snow, uphill, both ways!

Just kidding.

But, when I went to school, at age 11, I had to learn Latin. I had to memorize Latin vocabulary, 20 words a day, and do translations from German into Latin and back. After about 4 years of that, we had to read Ovid‘s poems in the original Latin.

For tests, we had to read classic Roman texts and translate them into German. Or we had to translate German content into grammatically correct Latin. You got points deducted for grammar mistakes, like mismatched adjective endings.

I am grateful, because it taught me how to think. They didn’t use multiple choice tests or standardized tests. I am sure it was a challenge for the teachers to grade because they had to read two page poem translations for every student. In the end, the students knew the material, and the teachers knew that the students knew.

I think we should stop using standardized tests, multiple choice tests, and start teaching kids how to think. I think we should spend more effort on teaching art, and music, and poetry, and wood shop, and metal shop, and robotics.

I know, because when I was a kid, I had to walk at seven o’clock in the morning, in the snow, uphill, both ways!