"What computerized analysis of all the country’s school tests has done to education is exactly what Facebook has done to friendships. In both cases, life is turned into a database. Both degradations are based on the same philosophical mistake, which is the belief that computers can presently represent human thought or human relationships. These are things computers cannot currently do."
Jaron Lanier, You are Not a Gadget (kindle loc. 1268) on the dangers of technological reductionism. He further discusses the pressure that standardized tests put on teachers in selecting teaching strategies that improve test taking skills but provide less real knowledge or opportunity for thinking.
