Not On The Test

Here's a song about school testing that John Forster & I wrote.
It helped usher in the New Year on National Public Radio,
appearing on "Morning Edition" on January 1, 2007.

LISTEN

Not On The Test
by John Forster & Tom Chapin
© 2007 Limousine Music Co. & The Last Music Co. (ASCAP)

Go on to sleep now, third grader of mine.
The test is tomorrow but you'll do just fine.
It's reading and math. Forget all the rest.
You don't need to know what is not on the test.

Each box that you mark on each test that you take,
Remember your teachers. Their jobs are at stake.
Your score is their score, but don't get all stressed.
They'd never teach anything not on the test.

The School Board is faced with no child left behind
With rules but no funding, they're caught in a bind.
So music and art and the things you love best
Are not in your school 'cause they're not on the test.

Sleep, sleep, and as you progress
You'll learn there's a lot that is not on the test.

Debate is a skill that is useful to know,
Unless you're in Congress or talk radio,
Where shouting and spouting and spewing are blessed
'Cause rational discourse was not on the test.

Thinking's important. It's good to know how.
And someday you'll learn to, but someday's not now.
Go on to sleep, now. You need your rest.
Don't think about thinking. It's not on the test.

This song appears on the Tom Chapin & John Forster CD Broadsides.
You can download the song for free, or view and download the video on www.notonthetest.com.

Feedback:

Having just heard the song "Not On the Test" I felt compelled to say thank you for nailing the sentiments of all in my school as we prepare our poor students for testing this month. Someday we will look back on this period of time as the period they killed the love of learning. Needless to say we will pay the price for generations to come with under-educated adults from this period who shunned any more of this garbage than absolutely necessary. Gone are the days when our graduating students couldn't wait to get to college to learn more. Thank you for your grasp of this & for putting it so eloquently in song!
F.P.

Teachers everywhere will be making this their mantra! You've struck a lovely chord. THANK YOU--from every teacher in the US.
V.W.

Keep writing and singing. We in the field of education have long waited for someone, other than those in Washington, to have a voice that can accurately represent our children and those of us working so diligently to "educate" them with more than just math and reading. This song gives me a little hope.
D.C.

God bless you for your dedication to children and education. At times it is disheartening to hear the all too frequent criticism of public education and teachers that comes at us from the proponents of vouchers who have no understanding of how much better education is today than in the past. That's right: I said BETTER.
Kids today, for example, are learning math in the 9th grade that just a few decades back wasn't taught until the 12th. And that is true across the board. A college instrctor I had several years ago had a hobby of collecting old textbooks. She showed me a fourth grade reader from the 1940s that would probably be taught today in first or second grade. So the advancing rate at which we are teaching our youth is just another factor which goes largely unnoticed and unappreciated by many. So, when someone comes along and speaks out for us in song as Tom has, it is appreciated far more than he probably knows. After all, for everyone who has written to praise Tom, I suspect there are at least a thousand, if not 10,000 who didn't think to try and contact you, but were just as impressed and grateful as those of us who did.
C.I.

As a retired math teacher and math department chair, I am 100% in agreement with Tom's song! Sharing this with all teachers is great, but it is like preaching to the choir. This song should be played for every school administrator, school "specialist" who probably never taught in the first place and all the self-important lawmakers who decided we should have these tests but never set foot in a public school after graduating and haven't a clue about the immense negative impact these tests have on our kids. "Teaching to the test" is never a good idea as it trains kids that original thinking is unnecessary and, most importantly, kills their enthusiasm for learning. I could write volumes about how very bad these tests are, but, again, for the most part I'd be preaching to people who share my opinion. The people who really need to hear the truth are in total denial.
E.A.B.

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