The joke goes that students ask, “Will this be on the test?” rather than just engaging with the material regardless.
Well, of course they do. We’ve taught them to.
“It’ll be on the test” is how we’ve tried to convince students to engage with our material since they started school. As standardized testing has become increasingly pervasive in students’ week-to-week school experience (on top of quizzes, unit tests, midterms, final exams, and performance tests, among others), teachers have been forced to play just the one track. “You’ve to learn this because it’ll be on the test.”
No one ever got curious about an idea, a fact, or an area of study because it was going to be on the test. They got interested because someone – a teacher, a mentor, a peer – convinced them it was worth learning.
Until teachers have the time, freedom, and impetus to hook kids with a perspective on why something is important to learn, they’ll just keep repeating “It’ll be on the test.” And students will either engage just enough to commit ideas to short-term memory or check out entirely.
“It’ll be on the test” is worthless.