John Oliver did a segment for the kids on Sunday night’s episode of “Last Week: Tonight,” sizing up the failings of standardized testing in America and education policy like No Child Left Behind and Common Core.
Noting that “tests” has become the easiest five-letter-word to terrify children besides the word “clown,” Oliver couldn’t believe reports that recent official test instructions account for students vomiting on their test materials.
“Something is wrong with our system when we just assume a certain number of kids will vomit,” Oliver said.
“Tests are supposed to be assessments of skills, not a rap battle on 8 Mile Road,” he added, flashing a picture of Eminem.
Oliver eventually got into the weeds about the policy of tying teacher pay to student performance, revealing that the methods used to calcuate teachers’ effectiveness were flawed at best and “ridiculous” at worst.
“That explains why many teachers’ classroom decorations that used to say, ‘Believe In Yourself,’ now say, ‘Don’t fuck me on this,'” he said.
Watch the clip, courtesy of HBO:
