And what does this metastasizing testing, for every subject, at every level, at every time of the year, do to kids? It has to mean that students absorb the message that learning is a joyless succession of hoops through which they must jump, rather than a way of understanding and mastering the world. Every question has one right answer; the measure of a person is a number. Being insightful, or creative, or, heaven forfend, counterintuitive counts for nothing.
Anna Quindlen (b. 1953) American journalist, novelist
Article (2005-06-12), “Testing: One, Two, Three,” Newsweek
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Quotations about:
joylessness
Note not all quotations have been tagged, so Search may find additional quotes on this topic.
Harriet; I have nothing much in the way of religion, or even morality, but I do recognize a code of behavior of sorts. I do know the worst sin — perhaps the only sin — passion can commit, is to be joyless. It must lie down with laughter or make its bed in hell — there is no middle way.
Dorothy Sayers (1893-1957) English author, translator
Gaudy Night, ch. 23 [Wimsey] (1935)
(Source)
Sometimes paraphrased, "The only sin passion can commit is to be joyless."
