In the 4th book of the Percy Jackson series, The Battle of Labyrinth Percy and gang have to battle a sphinx. If you are familiar with mythology you know that the sphinx will ask you a riddle and if you answer correctly you are deemed worthy and are allowed to pass. If you answer incorrectly you die (hey, nobody said being a hero was easy). As a daughter of the goddess of wisdom Annabth is very excited to challenge the sphinx. But it doesn't quite go as planned. I don't know if Riordan meant this to be a critique of standardized testing but I'm just gonna quote it here and leave it up to you to draw your own conclusions.
"Welcome, Annabeth Chase!...Are you ready for your test?"
"Yes", she said. "Ask your riddle."
"Twenty riddles, actually!" The sphinx said gleefully..."Oh, we've raised our standards! To pass you must show proficiency in all twenty. Isn't that great?"..."what is the capital of Bulgaria?"
"Sofia," she [Annabeth] said, "but-"
"Correct!... Please be sure to mark your answer clearly on your test sheet with a number 2 pencil...Make sure you bubble each answer clearly and stay inside the circle...If you have to erase, erase completely or the machine will not be able to read your answers..."
"These aren't riddles," Annabeth said.
" What do you mean?" The Sphinx snapped. "Of course they are . This
"It's just a bunch of dumb random facts," Annabeth insisted. "riddles are supposed to make you think."
test material is specially designed-"
"Think" The Sphinx frowned, "How am I supposed to test whether you can think? That's ridiculous! Now, how much force is required-"
"Stop!" Annabeth insisted. "This is a stupid test...I am a child of Athena and thi sis an insult to my intelligence. I won't answer these questions."
At this point Percy and crew have no choice but to destroy the test machine and try to fight their way past the sphinx. To which the Sphinx says, 'My grading machine! I can't be exemplary without my test scores!"
Being exemplary...that's kids stuff.
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