Lisa T. McElroy,  an associate professor of law at the Drexel University Earle Mack School of Law, has recently been working as a visiting professor at the University of Denver.

She thought it would be easy to opt her daughters out of the supposedly voluntary school standardized testing in the liberal bastion of Boulder.

She was wrong (hat-tip, Instapundit)

On Monday, about 15 minutes after I sent an email to the guidance counselors at the public high school and middle school informing them that I was opting my two daughters out, I got a call from the middle-school principal. I don’t know about you, but I can never get anyone from school to call me back in under a day or so. But here was the principal herself, instantaneously calling me in response to an email that I hadn’t even sent to her.

She started out very soft and calm. “Mrs. McElroy,” she said. “We’ve just received word that your daughter isn’t going to take the TCAPs. We are so disappointed. Won’t you change your mind?”

When I answered that I very much appreciated her call but was going to stick by my decision, she offered several reasons why my daughter should take the test.

…But when the lawyer in me started pushing back, pointing out to the principal that none of her arguments was especially convincing, I got nowhere. Including off the phone. The principal kept going on. And on. And on. My daughter really should take it. She was the only child in the entire school who was opting out. She might feel weird, being different from all the other kids.

She recounts how other school system administrators aggressively guilt-tripped her to change her mind. McEloy concludes her journey of discovery:

What started as a personal, family decision carries so much more weight for me now, and it’s frustrating to know that our actions aren’t making a bit of difference, beyond our household. As a school administrator friend wrote to me, “I applaud parents who opt out and I really wish more would. However, to make a true impact on the system, thousands of parents (especially of high-achieving students) would have to opt out.”

In other words, my decision to opt my kids out might have no real effect at all here in Colorado, but on the other hand if I support friends in other states in opting their kids out, I might cause teachers to be downgraded and schools to lose funding.