While trying to figure out what to write about for this assignment, a news story popped up on my television about a woman complaining about her son being held back a grade level due to the fact he couldn’t pass his standardized testing. This issue provokes many thoughts like why do we have standardized tests when no person falls under a standard categorization of intelligence? More importantly, why does national government require it when you’ve proven your knowledge passing the class all year? Standardized tests qualify your intelligence on a subject based on one exam and impede individualistic understanding, the national government would do right to get rid of them.
Students spend approximately nine months of the year sitting in a classroom learning about the subjects they are required to take. That’s not to say those subjects are irrelevant; they all benefit your knowledge and experiences in the world to some degree, but STARR tests, ACTs, and SATs are all ways to account for what information you obtained throughout school. For example, in an article entitled, “SAT vs. GPA”, Colleges goes on and on about the importance of SAT scores saying that standardized tests help compare your knowledge to students around the world. The problem is students themselves are all individuals with strengths and weaknesses that seem to be disregarded in these tests. Some students crack under pressure and thus are inaccurately analyzed when doing standardized testing. Furthermore, school districts send out criteria that students enrolled in classes should master by the end of the session, so if the student’s grades in those classes demonstrate understanding and various teachers’ or different teaching strategies can contest to it, what more can the tests prove? A well-rounded learning experience is sufficient information about the knowledge and credibility of the student which should be promoted by the government.
People will argue things like favoritism among students and teachers or insufficiently educated teachers grading, but in truth every person has at least one teacher they but heads with. If you can still pass their class when it is evident favoritism isn’t the reason you made the grade. Additionally, standardized tests promote conformity, a value Americans undermine in the presence of freedom. These tests often exemplify mastery of only so many units of study, otherwise the tests would take years, the years you spent in school learning the material. Standardized tests also inhibit those with learning disabilities from doing the best they can which promotes incompetence and encourages judgement. The list of negatives goes on and on.
Overall, standardized tests are means of categorizing intelligence of students, a unnecessary in analyzing information obtained and devalue all non-standard forms of understanding. The national government needs to take them away.