We deal right now in the educational landscape with an infatuation with the culture of one right answer that can be properly bubbled on the average multiple choice test. I am here to share with you, it is not learning.

Diana Laufenberg, an American educator known for advocating inquiry-based, student-centered learning, has made this critique in the context of public debates over standardized testing and accountability in U.S. schools. The remark aligns with her frequent argument—often delivered in conference and keynote settings—that schooling has become overly focused on test performance and easily scored outcomes. In that setting, she contrasts “bubble” multiple-choice assessments with richer forms of learning (problem-solving, creativity, collaboration, iteration) that are harder to quantify but central to genuine understanding.

The quote argues that an educational system organized around finding the single “right answer” on standardized tests mistakes compliance and test-taking skill for learning. Laufenberg’s point is not that correctness is irrelevant, but that reducing knowledge to preselected options discourages exploration, productive failure, and the development of judgment. By calling it an “infatuation,” she suggests a cultural obsession: schools, policymakers, and the public become enamored of measurable certainty, even when it narrows curriculum and undermines deeper intellectual habits. The line “it is not learning” draws a sharp boundary between assessment convenience and authentic understanding.