Parent opt-out of standardized testing

I thought that allowing my son to take a third grade, fifth grade and middle school test might be a good idea, just like I had it in school. But I forgot about the new climate around all of this testing. This article makes me think again. We're creating a nation of worriers, as though if we don't cause others to worry, their lives are not being fulfilled. How is this collective anxiety going to help anyone?

Mom: why I won't let my son take high-stakes standardized tests, (Washington Post Answer Sheet, Apr. 7, 2013)

"At the same time, reading homework had become a nightly battle. My son Jacob, who turned 9 in January, was bringing home these long non-fiction reading passages, often very boring. He had to read the passage, identify the main idea, and make inferences about the material in order to answer the questions. The questions were often opaque, oddly worded, and frequently depended on outside knowledge. Sometimes when I was helping him I would figure out the answer, and I’ve have a moment of excitement, and then I would think, “Oh, yeah, I’m 46 and I have a PhD from Yale and I’m excited because I just figured out the answer to my 9-year-old’s reading homework?”

"As test prep ramped up in February and March I had another revelation: Jacob does not love to read. Based on what he was bringing home from school, how could he?"