The accountability system was designed in part to link practice and theory more closely, but educators in the humanities point out that neither everyday experienced nor the affective domain can be accountable in such an explicity system. In the humanities, especially, there is another way of knowing -- unpredictable, unique, often capricious -- which works creatively through juxtaposition and synthesis and which cannot be measured accurately by objective tests. It is a type of perception often termed metaphoric, closely allied with creative insight, and approaches the authentic understanding and commitment desired by existentialist and humanistic educators. Once a teacher becomes accountable to the school, administration, or society, the rich metaphoric perception of the student may be sacrificed for the measurable, objective behavior required by accountability -- and the awareness which arises from metaphoric perceptions which, while they must be expressed through measurable behavior, are not identified with it. (Author/DE)