It conveys through irony the fact there is little joy in our education where there should be. .
The text shows a great deal of material in a single frame. The reader sees a box of text to the left side with the name of the comic "The Joy of Learning" (Roanoke Times 2009). Directly to the right of the title stands a line of three administrators of varying levels, each is behind the other upon a desk looking seemingly down on the one in front as a sign of hierarchy. They are panicking over a student named David taking a Standards of Learning (SOL) test who in turn is panicking. The VA is threatening the administrator to pull accreditation from the school as well as "shame on your community" if David misses problem nine. We in turn see the administrator threatening loss of a teaching job to the teacher who herself in turn is panicking. The teacher yells, "David, it's problem 9! You know problem nine! Relax! RELAX!!" as David is frantically writing in the SOL test booklet. This text is clearly showing one error in our methodology of instruction to students.
Methodologies in instruction vary widely, and many are flawed. While it is true there is no perfect system for anything, it's possible to improve upon many systems. The author conveys a flaw in our education system by pointing out the over-importance we put on standardized testing. The results of said testing, in this instance it is Virginia's Standards of Learning, directly relate to many factors. Where a school stands in rankings, funding, accreditation, jobs, apparent standards of academic excellence; these all may fall, be pulled, decrease, fail, rise, and increase according to the results of test scores achieved by students. We rely on these scores for where schools, districts, and even entire state systems are headed. The author of the text is bringing light to this. Teachers may even lose jobs or move into higher positions.
