“What could be the purpose of an exercise testing students on such a lacerated passage — one which, finally, is neither mine nor true to my lived experience?”
-Annie Dillard
I can’t say I’m surprised that the standardized testing cosmos is methodically censored – it always seemed to possess an otherworldly wholesomeness. But the extent to which it is regulated and the surreptitious/unsanctioned nature of that regulation is a little bewildering. Removing all mention of Judaism from an Isaac Bashevis Singer story? Really? What is the purpose of cleaning up texts for mass testing? How old do you have to be to read the word “gay”?
