He didn't call you stupid. You put a few different things together to make it that way. People who preform badly on tests DO have something "wrong", in that they don't process the information the same way. A test is basically a structured set of questions about information you are now supposed to know. If you learn how to properly set up your ball python, you should easily be able to answer basic questions about how warm it should be, how big the enclosure should be, how often should it eat... Just because someone writes the questions down and you have to answer them in writing doesn't mean you now don't understand how to care for the snake. I myself am lousy at remembering dates and numbers, but I managed to graduate with a AB average(before 10th grade it was a A average).

Testing for school standards HAS become lax, due to the whole idea that the class has to preform at the level of the lowest student. We have more and more classes graduating without being able to do basic math and reading. The standards are lower because more children were failing. So instead of teaching the kids more/better/differently, they lowered the standards.

IF you did away with standardized testing, then any school could "graduate" studants at any level of knowledge they wanted. They could give A's to everyone, regardless of their actual learning of basic math, reading and writing. The standardized tests are designed to make certain that the studants ACTUALLY are learning the materials.

Now the protecals and the rules and the timing and fuss they make are somewhat ridiculous. Colleges need to go by something to make sure new students will be able to preform in the classes they are signing up for. If there were no standard test, then you could sign up students for classes, only to discover they have no basic understanding to build on. The entire idea of "graduating" school would be worthless. Schools that wanted more funding would just assign higher grades, to make themselves look accomplished.

All in all, I think they are a fine idea. They are not the end-all of creation, nor the only way to decide on college entrance, or a person's level of "smart". There's plenty of really intelligent people out there that can't even read. But are they educated? No. They are smart, useful, a boon to society maybe.. but not educated.