20-fold increase in standardized testing coming with Gates Foundation's "Common Core":

[boppers]

160. You have missed the part where I agree with you.

Test everyone, test them often, test them in many ways. I think bubble tests are a massive waste. So test the children with things where a teacher cannot "teach to the test". Figure out the kids who need work on primes, on multiple numeric systems, vocabulary, word connections, etc.

On math:
If you learned FOIL, that's an error in your education. The order *doesn't matter*. It never did. Ever.
When you have two simple multiplicative two-part sets, both sets have to multiply.
OILF will give the same result.
LIOF too.
FOIL is just a tool for the forgetful, not an important mathematical concept.

As for me, I didn't learn "fractions", I learned "ratios"..... same thing, it turns out, just different symbols. (Separating symbols, syntax, and concepts, turns out to be quite handy in my field). 1/4 vs. 1:4 is just symbols.

You don't have to believe me, it doesn't matter to me, but I do hope you don't talk down to children.

I was "talked down to" an awful lot, and I eventually learned to "play dumb" to get along. They used to test me (often, with bubbles) every few weeks, which was annoying as hell, and something I didn't understand, until I got much older, read up on theories of intelligence, and checked my scores. That's when I realized they were treating me as a freak.... because I was. I tended to max out their tests, and on tests with higher scales, I was as low as an IQ of 186, and stupid-high (200+) on others (hence, re-calibration). (Cue conversation about the huge problems with these tests, cultural bias, etc).

It does sound like you had a good education. I wish I had that.

And yes, though you don't explicitly say it, I do have the curse of "why don't others think like me". It comes in many flavors, across many numbers. I find I relate to the edges of the stanines much more than the center. I'd rather hang out with somebody with an IQ of 60 or 140 than somebody who is a 100. (See above note about how the the tests are broken).