[Brutha]

In this case, I meant measurable as in the child can easily apply what they learn. The ability to do something with knowledge is far more important than how they rank on tests.

That still leaves the question of how you will measure whether someone has the ability to do something.

Yes, but it's boring and tedious to the student that isn't passionate about it

I really don't think that anyone involved in education reform likes making things boring.

It's rather that people want teaching methods that produce measurable results.
That means that teachers can't make up their own methods on the spot and be flexible but instead have to use well defined methods.
It also creates a focus on tests that measure results.
Individuality hasn't much to do with using methods that produce measurable results.
Bill Gates does a good job at presenting the ideal of methods that produce measurable results through increased testing.
The idea is on a certain level persuasive and therefore it has political support.

Poem analysis gets taught because English teachers take English at university and at universtiy English is about literary analysis.
English professors push their postmodern theories about literature at English teachers and afterwards the childs have to suffer in school.
It's similar in most subjects where you get the knowledge that professors treat as the basics in their field instead of knowledge that's actually useful to the average person.