Hey! Do you hear a kind of groaning sound? Could it be ...? Yes, it's millions of kids marching off to take some standardized tests!

Educational reformers have sprung up across the landscape in recent years, calling for rigorous, across-the-board standardized tests. Let's stop coddling the kids, they say.

Politicians who once promised to "get tough on crime" now promise to "get tough on education." Check out the numbers:

• Forty-eight states now have statewide standardized testing programs.
• In 13 states, kids can't go to the next grade without passing such tests.
• The No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) requires that by 2005-2006, all students in grades 3-8 be tested annually in mathematics and reading.
• In Massachusetts, kids cannot exit high school without passing an 18-hour standardized exam.
• According to the Center on Education Policy, 19 states now require high school exit exams, and at least 5 additional states plan to phase them in by 2008. Already more than half of American high school seniors are required to take exit exams, and thousands have been denied diplomas because of failing scores. In New York, for example, even students in vocational schools will have to pass standardized tests in English, math, United States history, global studies, and science.

Testing has always been with us. Even in the sleepy '70s, kids had to cope with filling in the bubbles. Back then, however, such tests were only one of many ways students were assessed. Grades counted. Classroom performance counted. Teachers' observations counted. Standardized tests were used mainly to channel kids with special needs and abilities into appropriate programs.

Today, the kindly customs of yore have given way to no-nonsense "high-stakes testing." Which means ...?

Bottom line: You flunk, you suffer. Kids--you don't go on to the next grade. Schools--you lose funding. Principals--you get transferred. Teachers--kiss your pay raises goodbye, maybe even get fired.

And now some people are asking: Is this too harsh?