We should come up with assessments that truly measure the qualities of well-educated children: the ability to understand what they read; an interest in using books to gain knowledge; the capacity to know when a problem calls for mathematics and quantification; the agility to move from concrete examples to abstract principles and back again; the ability to think about a situation in several different ways; and a dynamic working knowledge of the society in which they live.  
~Susan Engle  New York Times Op-ed "Scientifically Tested Tests"  

Well, Jeeze, you could knock me over with a feather.  Are these the clearly stated goals of institutional education?  And does anyone think school is the best place to learn this stuff?  Fascinating.  I like this list.  And I'm grateful to read it.