> Asking "is this going to be on the test" shows that you have no intention of actually learning everything you're taught, which is the point of the class, and instead you're only interested in memorizing the minimum to pass a limited test, which is not the point of the class.
I think you have it backwards. The point of the class is to make kids pass tests. The fiction is that it's so that they learn the material. Learning is ancillary to the systems actual purpose. The fact that a lot of people that are part of the system are well meaning and don't realize this doesn't negate the design of the system itself.
I realize that sounds like some sort of crazy conspiracy theory, but keep in mind that "schooling" and "education" are related but separate things. Public schools are a relatively modern invention from around the industrial revolution, and the inventors of the public school system explicitly designed it to create people that were obedient. They weren't even particularly secretive about it -- a lot of the people that helped found what we think of as our modern school system said as much directly.
Not the most elegant page, but here's a good book on the subject from a former school teacher: http://www.johntaylorgatto.com/underground/toc1.htm (I think at one point he even won a teacher of the year award, or something along those lines, so he's not necessarily just some crackpot)