Educators, however, have been dealing with this idea for many years but their proposals always fall short due to the complexity of the judicial consequences although the public may support this idea. Other countries have been teaching religion for many decades. Indonesian elementary schools, for example, teach religions once a week. It usually runs for two hours. Every approved religion has a teacher. The government of Indonesia approves five religions: Islam, Protestant, Catholic, Hindu, and Buddhist. Government provides in the national budget for religion teachers. Therefore by the law, the public money should go only to the approved religions. Recently, bowing to the Chinese community's demand, government allows Confucian to be taught at elementary schools in the Chinese-populated area.
Plato believes that education is not for every child. A series of tests and trials could show which children are up to the heaviest challenges of leadership. The fair contest would categorize children in three groups: gold, silver, and bronze or iron. Children with gold mixed in them will become guardians. Those with silver content will become auxiliaries, and those with bronze or iron will become craftsmen and farmers. Plato's Socrates gave a warning that the city will be destroyed if its guardians were from groups of children without gold mixed. Indeed, elementary schools K-6 have series of tests to assess children's capacity. The school district staff will check if the child is appropriate for a certain grade upon entering the school system. Once the child is admitted into the school, he or she should take several tests every week, quarter and year. In addition, the student must take standardized tests like MCAS and CTBS. Grade 4 students in Massachusetts, for example, should take CTBS test in December and MCAS in May. Public seem puzzled with these standardized tests. Series of debates erupted soon after the state officially released the MCAS result early December 2000.
