I agree, it always seemed to me that most of us didn't want people to think we're stupid. It seems sad that you have to worry that a kid will just fill in whatever so they can go to lunch. That seems like a self-esteem or discipline problem, not a fault of test taking.

For all the complaining, I'm curious what a better solution would be for finding out how much kids are learning.

I’m only a couple years younger than you, but I definitely experienced a significant “trying is for white people” attitude when I was in school in LA.