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It's the funniest thing. In his defense of extra spoonfuls of standardized testing during an October 13th meeting, soon-to-be retired Jim Gillock, Director of Pupil Services, alluded to what is apparently a reading emergency in Readington. More testing is the best medicine for curing the apparent inability of our teachers to assess literacy on their own, we are told. Why, children are getting into the middle school who can't read, we are admonished.

Well, gentle reader, we all know that first grade is the age that most children really come to discover the joy of reading. It is in this grade that we typically put a big emphasis on "learning" to read, although truthfully the necessary literacy development has already been going on for years.

Funny, then, that one typical first grade schedule this school year has reduced available instructional time for literacy by up to two to three hours per week.  A look at last year's schedule and this year's schedule side by side indicates that blocks of time have been rearranged in order to make room for guidance, character education, and more health instruction. Oh, and let's not forget the extra time needed this year to prepare for dismissal.

No need to panic, folks.  Now that we have the extra testing in place, less time is required for teaching reading and literacy.  After all, isn't it far more important that our children test well in literacy than to actually be literate?  Well, isn't it?