Natalie Clyne
English 1101-D362
04-20-2015
Research Paper
Revised
Standardized Testing
Remember that lifelong dream of dream of yours you had since you were a little kid? Whether it was to become a doctor, a lawyer, or even a professional wrestler, whatever it was, you were extremely confident in perusing and achieving that goal. Now imagine not being able to achieve that dream of yours just because you didn’t receive a very high score on one test. You can be a straight A student your whole life but mess up on this one exam and your future is ruined. You can be a top athlete in the nation but if you don’t master this exam you can kiss that scholarship to that big basketball school of yours goodbye. Standardized tests have been one of the most controversial issues over the past forty years. Some people even argue that the exams have absolutely nothing to do with a student’s knowledge. How ever, these tests are believed to be extremely biased, heavily stressful and expensive for students.
Standardized tests are extremely biased common throughout the United States. They were created in 1965 and their purpose is supposedly to measure a students’ academic performance. These tests are usually the main determination of whether or not the school of your choice will accept you. According to Alfie Kohn, an American author and philosopher, students do not learn anything while studying for these standardized tests. They just work hard on memorizing information. Whether its word definitions or mathematic formulas, these students keep these things in the back of their head until the exam.
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Once they finish that exam, they won’t even care about these words or formulas anymore. In other words, teachers teach so that students will be good at taking tests, when really teachers are supposed to teach to prepare their students for their future. As Kohn states, “They only measure the students’ memory when it should measure their academic performance” (Kohn).
These tests vary from state to state. Most of the time however, the whole state gets the same exam. According to the Wall Street Journal, white students constantly outperform black and Hispanic students in terms of proficiency test scores in every single subject (Blaming the SATs).That’s why these tests are said to be biased towards those from higher-class neighborhoods. Students who have more and better resources and experience obviously do better. A rich kid who has computers and books should not take the same exam as a kid who is poor and has nothing. It isn’t his fault he’s in that situation. There could be a question about cars. The poor kid may not know anything about then while the rich one will master that topic. If this keeps up, all the students who will be attending college will be those who are wealthy. What about that student that has the same ambition and motivation but just isn’t wealthy enough? Shouldn’t he or she get a chance as well?
These tests are heavily stressful and can cause so much stress and anxiety to these students. Standardized testing is given to all students of all ages. Students are way too young to experience these types of things. Ten year olds are supposed to go outside and play with their friends. They shouldn’t have to go crazy over an exam. According to teendepression.org, over the past ten years thousands of students between the ages of twelve and nineteen have committed suicide due to the stress of these exams.
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The irony is that stress causes memory loss. That means that when these stressed out students go to take there exam, they are likely to forget what they have been studying. As a matter of fact, in March 14, 2002, the Sacramento Bee reported that “test-related jitters, especially among young
students, are so common that the Stanford-9 exam comes with instructions on what to do with a test booklet in case a student vomits on it.” This only proves that even those who create these tests know for a fact that it causes an unhealthy effect on these students.
People like to argue that standardized tests are expensive but are the only reliable measure of student’s achievement. They believe that without them, schools would have nothing else to base their decisions on. They are wrong. These tests aren’t always that accurate. A student could have had a bad day or they could have been going through some problems. Instead, schools should place some more emphasis on things such as a students’ Grade Point Average or even teacher recommendation. Wachtell, Cynthia. “Enough is Enough.” Huff Education.The Huffington Post 29 May 2012 Web 31 May 2012.On January 2nd 2002, President George W. Bush passed the No Child Left Behind (NCLB) law. This law was created so that disadvantaged students had more chances, which meant that the schools and the city would give more exams. Since this law was passed, spending on standardized tests rose from 423 million dollars to almost 1.1 billion dollars. That’s a lot of money, coming to more than twenty million dollars for each state. That money should be used to help the state out or at least the school system instead of it being used on exams. National Basketball Association star Brandon Jennings, was the top basketball player in the nation in high school. He had scholarships from every big basketball college. Every school was dying to have him.
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His life was looking very good. Then it was time for his SAT’s. Unfortunately, he didn’t do so well. As a result, he wasn’t able to get into any of those colleges anymore. This caused him to travel overseas and play basketball in Italy. He has now become a multi-millionaire by doing his life-long dream. In other words, these standardized tests are very irrelevant. Brandon Jennings took it and didn’t receive a very good score, but he still managed to do what he does best.
In conclusion standardized testing is extremely biased, heavily stressful, and expensive for students and should not be in any child’s education. It is harmful to a scholar’s future, can negatively change a curriculum, and is unfair to different regions throughout United States. Tests predict student failure, are used to decide how funding is spread to schools, and determine probable school future. Standardize testing in the United States is a waste of precious teaching time and take up funding that could be contributing to a better future for students.
Works Cited
“Blaming the SATs.”The Wall Street Journal.
10 June 1999 Web 22 April 2013
Fletcher, Dan. “Standardized Testing” Time U.S. Time.
11 Dec. 2009 Web 22 April 2013
Hamilton, Klein and Brian M. Stecher. “Making Sense,”
Santa Monica, CA. 2002 Web 25 April 2013
Kohn, Alfie.“Standardized Testing and Its Victims.”Education Week.
27 Sept. 2000 Web 9 April 2013
Strauss, Valerie.“The Myths of Standardized Testing.” Post Local.The Washington Post.
15 April 2011 Web 9 April 2013
Wachtell, Cynthia. “Enough is Enough.” Huff Education.The Huffington Post.
29 May 2012 Web 31 May 2012
