Although I recently wrote an opinion piece about how my daughter would not be taking the MSP test, I hope my piece hasn’t in some way limited the conversation about improving schools to high stakes testing alone.

Improving schools is not really about the tests. It’s bigger than that. It’s about what we think the purpose of an education should be.

Tßhe purpose of an education is to explore one’s passions, to work through problems with other people to design creative solutions, to find meaningful connections between our lives and the lives of others, to find out what we are better at doing than anyone else in the world, to contribute, to learn how to use our passions and knowledge and skills to leave the world a better place than we found it.

When children experience an education that capitalizes on their unique talents and skills and passions, they become people who share their expertise with the world in creative and productive ways.They live fulfilling, happy lives of purpose.

Such values and principles should define the urgency of our efforts to improve our public schools.

We don’t educate our youth so they’ll serve our need to be more economically competitive as a nation, although an economy that is filled with innovative and creative thinkers is a noble goal.We educate our youth to give them the tools to figure out for themselves how they’ll make a contribution, regardless of whether or not their interests and passions fit into our economic plans.

If we can agree with these educational principles, then assessing the various proposals for school improvement should involve a rigorous interrogation of how they align with our educational goals. I believe such an interrogation would compel us to demand a fundamentally different conversation from politicians and educational leaders: one that de-emphasizes high stakes tests and emphasizes how our schools are serving the creative talents of our children.

When people talk about how their child’s school could be better, test scores occupy a small part of their description.People simply yearn for schools their kids are excited to attend and that foster in them a sense of wonder, curiosity, and purpose and does so through rigorous academic study.

Let’s demand from each other a better conversation about public education that encompasses the social, moral, intellectual, ethical interests of our kids and our community.

Paul Sutton lives in Bellevue.