The debate over incessant testing in England has generated thousands of words from teachers, unions and academics.
But over in the south Bronx, New York, it is the 14-year-olds who are taking action.
At least 160 students in Intermediate School 318 simply refused to take a three-hour practice exam for next month’s social studies test.
Instead, they submitted a petition to Maria Lopez, the school principal, and the city’s department of education, saying they were fed up with “constant, excessive and stressful testing”, according to the New York-based Daily News.
The 14-year-olds wanted to spend more time learning about social studies, and less being tested.
The school administrators’ response was to promptly suspend a probationary teacher whom they said had stirred up the unrest.
David Cantor, the education department spokesman, said: “This guy was far over the line in a lot of the ways he was running his classroom. He was giving them messages that were inappropriate.”
We wait to see if the pupil protest crosses the pond.
