When I read about someone saying, “High-stakes multiple choice testing is here to stay,” I think of the old story about the camel that poked its nose into the nomad’s tent. We know what eventually happened: the nomad was driven out. At each stage of the camel’s entry, the nomad might have told the camel to get out, but failed to do so.
The lesson we are supposed to draw from this fable is that when a camel’s nose appears at the tent-flap, we must keep it out. The lesson is not that when the nose appears, we must say, “The camel is here to stay,” and wave it in.
Another thought about the camel: it might do in the desert, but we keep it out of the garden.