Are Tests Classical?
Introducing the History of Assessment Series
By Emily Andrews
Estimated Reading Time: 7 minutes
The rebirth of classical education demands critical reevaluation of every area of learning. Students around the world are benefiting from a return to the Great Books, the liberal arts, and tradition. Teachers are once again discovering the pedagogical effectiveness of embodied learning, imitation, and Socratic Dialogue. The classical renewal movement has rightly identified the ills of utilitarian educational practices and the need to return to a holistic view of human flourishing. The results speak for themselves.
But what about the role of testing in classical education? Are tests actually classical? Parents are right to be wary of institutions or practices that label their children with a number. After all, the impulse to quantify all information and produce empirical data has its origins in the Enlightenment, when philosophers mistrusted any knowledge they could not verify with their own reason or senses. As proponents of an unseen reality that exists outside ourselves, can classical educators then meaningfully engage in any kind of empirical student assessment? How can we ever dream of assessing the formation of a soul with integrity?
Are Tests a Modern Invention?
While it is true that written tests as we experience them today are an invention of the 20th century, the practice of assessment dates back to the earliest foundations of Western civilization. In the dialogues of Socrates, we catch a glimpse of an ancient master questioning his pupils to test their reasoning capacity. In Quintilian’s Institutio Oratoria, which dates to around 95 AD, we see guidelines for evaluating a budding Roman statesman’s ability to hold forth rhetorically. The medieval practice of disputation (disputatio) was intentionally employed to assess a young scholar’s skill for defending truth in the university. From the very origins of formal education, some kind of assessment has been in place to establish a student’s progress and a teacher’s effectiveness in instruction.
You may argue that these historical practices are substantially different from the kind of testing we do today because their results were not quantified. However, to fully understand the nature of modern assessments, we must first understand what caused them. Two major historical forces contributed to the eventual demand for a universally recognizable scoring structure to reflect student performance. Although standardized testing did not emerge until the turn of the 20th century, the seeds that led to its appearance were planted centuries beforehand.
First, democratization in America brought an end to aristocracy in the country. Suddenly, all voting citizens had access to and a need for education. Individuals were no longer selected for important offices in government, law, or the church based on their birth, but rather on their merit. Consequently, the worthiness of each candidate needed to be judged and compared. And the larger the country grew, the harder it would become to determine such judgments by reputation alone.
Second, the Industrial Revolution in America and around the globe made people eager to keep their children out of the harsh working conditions of the factories. The establishment of compulsory education created an overwhelming influx of students in schools and universities. How was a college in Massachusetts going to evaluate the merits of a student applying from Ohio? Educators hoped that a universal language of assessment would create equal opportunities for students all over the country.
The history of modern assessment does not, of course, justify the current state of testing. The more obsessed people became with numbers, the more they lost the human element of evaluation. However, limitations require innovation; the more applicants there are for an opportunity, the harder it is to identify the most likely candidates through one-on-one interactions.
The classical tradition has employed tools of assessment from the very beginning. The question is not whether tests should be provided, but how classical practices of assessment can be translated into modern environments. The practice of testing itself is an unquestionable good for all involved in the educational process.
Are Tests Good for Students?
Student flourishing lies at the very heart of good testing. No one can grow without first discovering where they fall short. At CLT, we believe that the true value of a test rests not in its judgment of past accomplishments, but in its vision for future opportunities. A test is a chance to take stock, to see where you have been and make a plan for where you need to go. Far from harming students, good tests give them tools for success.
Are Tests Good for Parents and Teachers?
In the same way, tests are invaluable for parents and teachers looking to understand their students’ needs. A student assessment is in many ways actually an assessment of a teacher’s performance. Test results highlight areas where a teacher is clearly communicating with students and foregrounds areas where teachers need to finetune their pedagogy to reach students more effectively. Rather than seeing assessments as a period at the end of a school year, teachers should apply them strategically as a means of shaping their curricular choices throughout the year. And when these goals are warmly communicated in the classroom, much can be done to mitigate test anxiety.
Are Tests Good for Society?
From a much broader perspective, it is important to recognize that assessments are essential for the health of communities. If you should find yourself on the operating table, for example, it would probably raise some concerns if you discovered that the surgeon wielding the knife failed to pass his or her exams in medical school. In the same way, if you’re going to pay big money to hire a lawyer, it is usually preferable to choose candidates who have passed both their LSAT and final bar exams.
Assessments are critical for ensuring that certain powers are only conferred on those who can competently wield them. It is, to be sure, not a perfect system, but good assessments are an excellent first step for determining a person’s proficiency when it counts.
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Over the next several weeks, CLT will be diving deeper into the history of assessment, from ancient to modern times, here on our blog. In so doing, we hope to contribute to the classical education movement’s contemplation of the role of testing in liberal arts learning. CLT firmly believes that grades and scores do not define a human being or even tell the full story of their development in knowledge and virtue – they are, however, an important tool for reflection and growth in the process of education.
To join us on this exploration of testing in the classical tradition, please be sure you are subscribed to our email newsletter so that you never miss an update!
Emily Andrews is the Marketing Content Manager for CLT. She lives with her husband and daughter in Spokane, WA and enjoys hoarding books, eating good meals, and failing to complete crossword puzzles.
If you enjoyed this piece, be sure to check out The Anchored Podcast. For more Journal content, check out this post on how to get a civic education. From all of us at the Journal, thanks for reading and have a great rest of your week.
Published on 24th July 2026.