But Chester Finn, a former Assistant Secretary of Education in the Reagan administration, says the pressure of testing isn't also an excuse to cheat. Educators have been spared it for so long that they've forgotten that it's part of life in almost every other line of work. I mean, bus drivers are under pressure not to crash their buses. Prison guards are under pressure not to let their prisoners escape. Doctors are under pressure not to let their patients die.
Lawyers are under pressure to win their lawsuits.
Everybody is under pressure in their job. Educators have had this curious sort of charmed life in which results doesn't matter. This is just nuts. One of the things about these tests is that once you have a test, people start attaching things to it. The new principals' contract based on test scores.