test anxiety--> school shooting

I found myself incredibly frustrated by a recent blog post from Diane Racitch.  In the post, Ravitch presents a letter from an administrator in Spark, NV where a school shooting recently occurred.  The administrator, Dr. Debra A. Feemster, argues that the school shooting was partially due to the amount of testing occurring in the district.  Feemster states, "I feel that given the relentless, inflexible and unyielding focus on "test-taking" and school rankings and scores, etc., could have possibly contributed to this horrible school shooting.  When teachers and counselors are spending an inordinate amount of time preparing, worrying, and focused on test results, their time to connect with students is limited and scarce."  I feel that the negativity towards education reform is incredibly contagious.  Parents and teachers are quick to blame the reforms for any non-ideal results or incidents they see. 

I often feel that Diane Ravitch falls in this category.  Her views on standardized testing and common core are incredibly strong and she is incredibly vocal.  Many teachers and parents who do not take the time to educate themselves on current educational reforms, hear Ravitch's opinions loud and clear.  

The comments on this blog post are intense.  I actually stopped reading them because it pains me to see educated adults argue the way that these bloggers were doing, especially when hiding behind the keys of a computer.  (It's the same feeling I get when I watch The Real Housewives of New York.)   One blogger comments that they think the post is outlandish, the next responds by accusing her of being insensitive to Feemster's loss, etc.   

I think that people need to focus their energies on what is at hand; grieving a teacher's loss or standardized testing stresses.  The two are not intertwined.  Before one blames common core for a school shooting, they need to educated themselves from varying viewpoints on both the shooting and educational issues.