Not On The Test

I ran across this song last year just before we started testing and it struck a chord with me. As a music educator I'm blessed that I teach in a school district that has a school board that believes in having a music program available for students in our schools. Many districts around the state of California have being cutting music programs in recent years with the cut backs in funding for education. One reason, well you will not find any music questions on state tests. Even though NCLB does list the arts as one of its core subject areas because it's not on the test it is easy to cut from a program when budgets get tight.

Not On The Test

by John Forster & Tom Chapin

Go on to sleep now, third grader of mine.
The test is tomorrow but you'll do just fine.
It's reading and math, forget all the rest.
You don't need to know what is not on the test.

Each box that you mark on each test that you take,
Remember your teachers, their jobs are at stake.
Your score is their score, but don't get all stressed.
They'd never teach anything not on the test.

The School Board is faced with no child left behind
With rules but no funding, they’re caught in a bind.
So music and art and the things you love best
Are not in your school ‘cause they’re not on the test.

Sleep, sleep, and as you progress
You’ll learn there’s a lot that is not on the test.

Debate is a skill that is useful to know,
Unless you’re in Congress or talk radio,
Where shouting and spouting and spewing are blessed
'Cause rational discourse was not on the test.

Thinking's important. It's good to know how.
And someday you'll learn to but someday's not now.
Go on to sleep, now. You need your rest.
Don't think about thinking. It's not on the test.


Go to Tom Chapin's Web Site to see the video of the Not on the Test