Today I went to a Pearson professional testing center to take the first of a series of standardized tests I have to complete in order to get my Minnesota teaching license. I didn't really think much of it until I read this most recent chapter and realized that this testing center was yet another part of the macro-level social structure that we live in. Specifically, it's another one of those big organizations that affect our lives every day in profound ways. There was obviously some sort of need for a company dedicated just for organizing and running various professional tests, and a location (or locations) to hold these tests. I know of Pearson, and I know that they do big business in testing.
Obviously there was a need for this because so many people were taking these tests. But where did all these adults taking tests come from? It gets back to something the book mentioned: one of our major cultural beliefs in the West is that getting a good education is the best path to economic prosperity, and thus personal fulfillment, purpose, and creature comforts. So, it is this cultural belief that eventually led this professional testing facility in an office building in Eagan to spring up.
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