Wake up. Go to school. Attend club meetings or sports practices. Maybe go to a job. Do all of your homework for the day, and study for tests. Make sure you have dinner, and you’ll have a few minutes to spare before it is bedtime, if you’re lucky. Sounds familiar, right? This is a typical day of a high school student. Each person will have variations, but it is no shock that this is the time we really need to get our acts together. These years are key to our learning and development, where hopefully everyone is trying their best to improve upon their academics, extra-curricular activities and eventually the rest of their future. It is clear that high school students are put under a lot of stress, so it only makes sense to add more to their workload, right? Not likely.
Standardized testing is defined as any examination that’s administered and scored in a predetermined, standard manner. Think back on your school career. We have all been taking some kind of standardized test since elementary school. IOWA Exams, PSSAs, Keystones, PSATs and SATs are some of the tests we go through. We are pushed to take these seriously; while some aren’t needed to graduate, we are still required to take them. That means that teachers are forced to alter their lessons to accommodate to a “standardized” test. Why learn more than what’s needed, anyways? As a student, I would much rather learn and gain knowledge from someone who is qualified in a certain area than what I am “supposed” to know according to a predetermined plan.
Another issue with standardized tests is the time it prevents us from having class. This school year has already been interrupted in order to take a diagnostic exam in order to have an idea of how students will do on their Keystones. Lessons were brought to a halt so those students could take this test. For many, this is not their first round of testing in that subject. A major flaw that I see is that students are taking these subjects year after year and still not passing. Maybe it is because they have not taken that class in a year or two? It is very probable that material has been forgotten; we’re only human. Or possibly it could be that they face anxiety while test taking? There is no correct answer.
Students aren’t the only ones affected by these tests. Teachers get evaluated on how well their students do overall on the exams. If you fail, your teacher has done terribly at his or her job. This statement could not be more misleading. Teachers are supposed to teach and encourage you to learn and obtain knowledge in that class, and just because kids don’t do well on a Keystone or other test does not mean that they aren’t doing their job. Think about how frustrating this must be: your level of excellence in teaching is being based off of a test that you did not even create. It would be best to evaluate teachers while in their field, not on something they can hardly control.
In the end, standardized testing should not be used to determine how intelligent a student is. Intelligence cannot be measured by a multiple choice exam. Having to take a five hour long test just so colleges can see how well I could do at their school is absolutely absurd. Scores are just numbers, and these useless numbers can ultimately affect the rest of our lives. Not to mention how it feels getting those scores; for some people, they are pleased with them. For others, it was just a wasted day. While we are provided with resources and materials to study and prepare for these tests, too much pressure is placed on the students to have to prove something. Yes, we have to take these tests and will have to for years to come, but let it be known that there are great flaws in the system. No one can possibly know just how smart and able I am for college based on a number, so why are they of such importance? The world may never know.