With a No. 2 Pencil, Delete: The Destruction of Literature in the Name of Children

Quindlen, Anna, Newsweek

Byline: Anna Quindlen

You can imagine how honored I was to learn that my work was going to be mangled for the sake of standardized testing. I got the word just after a vigilant parent had discovered that statewide English tests in New York had included excerpts from literary writers edited so nonsensically that the work had essentially lost all meaning. Isaac Bashevis Singer, Annie Dillard, even Chekhov--the pool of those singled out for red-penciling by bureaucrats was a distinguished one, and I found myself a little disappointed that I had not been turned into reading-comp pabulum.

But the state of Georgia was more accommodating. The folks at the Educational Testing Service, one of America's most powerful monopolies, were preparing something …

Questia, a part of Gale, Cengage Learning. www.questia.com
Publication information: Article title: With a No. 2 Pencil, Delete: The Destruction of Literature in the Name of Children. Contributors: Quindlen, Anna - Author. Magazine title: Newsweek. Publication date: June 17, 2002. Page number: 78. © 2009 Newsweek, Inc. All rights reserved. Any reuse, distribution or alteration without express written permission of Newsweek is prohibited. For permission: www.newsweek.com. COPYRIGHT 2002 Gale Group.

This material is protected by copyright and, with the exception of fair use, may not be further copied, distributed or transmitted in any form or by any means.