> have learned a lot about computer programming from reading books and from more experienced programmers

I like learning from textbooks and others. I would say self testing myself is the difference between reading nonfiction and trying to learn something.

> never mentioned anything like that and I do not want to

It’s the rhetoric that was used to push back against examination in California and New York. Explicitly. The rhetoric was new, but it was essentially Illich’s ideas.

The result was kids in wealthy districts with tutors or with educated parents who valued learning for its own purpose (and had the time and skill to convey that to their kids) did well while those in poorer districts got left behind because absent measurement you have no accountability.