President Barack Obama: Less Standardized Tests in Schools, More Life Lessons

President Barack Obama recently penned an open blog post on The Huffington Post regarding standardized tests in schools and his hope for the future of education in our country. Via the post, the President poses the idea of less standardized tests and more life lessons in our education system.

He begins the post by asking parents around the country what they would want their children to do in school should they have more free time. His response, like most, appears to be that he wouldn't want extra time spent on standardized tests.

"I certainly wouldn't want that for my girls," he writes.

Of course, the President's idea isn't to get rid of standardized tests altogether; he notes that he believes "smart, strategic tests can help us measure our kids' progress in school," as long as they are done in moderation.

His blog, which stemmed from a recent Facebook post, further explains the importance of knowing that his children, and the children of so many Americans' around the country, are being taught lessons in life that can forever be held with him in order to realize their full potential. The teachers that he remembers as a child are not the ones who prepped him for a test, but rather the ones who helped him believe in himself and taught him to "be curious about the world."

"They inspired me to open up a window into parts of the world I'd never thought of before. These aren't the kinds of things you can easily measure by filling in the right bubble," he added.

With this thought in mind, the President has tried to work with the Department of Education and various school districts to ensure that the tests given to children are met by three principles: 1) the test is worth taking, 2) the test does not take up too much time or hinder children from learning, and 3) they are just one source of information.

Read the full blog post over at The Huffington Post.