Arguments Against Standardized Testing

Skitch Light

Averill

English

3 November 2014

Standardized Testing: The Fault in Our School System Standardized tests make out every child’s mind to be a blank slate; the playing field is being shifted to thereafter standardize the thought process, creativity, and problem solving skills of a student. Every person learns differently, and every student is on a separate level than his or her “peers” of which standardized exams try to put on the same academic level. Besides trying to strip students of their intellectual individuality, the tests also attempt to analyze the exam results to see where schools need improvement in teaching. This, too, is ineffective as the exams cannot accurately test students’ knowledge nor application of the subject.

Rachel Chinapen had interviewed several students’ parents on the matter and received much indication for a distaste of the tests. In her research article, “Parents Opting out kids out of Standardized Testing,” parents reportedly claimed that their children, “were academically unaffected by these tests other than being stressed out over them” (Chinapen). Beyond parents, students - the test-takers themselves - feel un-benefited by the tests. In What My Students Think About Standardized Tests, students reportedly said, " ‘I think that they are truly pointless. It doesn't tell how smart a student is because some people don't work well under pressure and stress.’ -- Leshay, 10th grade" (Ferroni). Students are supposed to have their test scores improve from the standardized exams, but that is not the result these kids are witnessing. " ‘To be honest, standardized testing is useless because it's supposed to show how smart someone is or whatever, but it's not actually accurate.’ -- Nervens, 10th grade"

“The multiple-choice format used on standardized tests is an inadequate assessment tool. It encourages a simplistic way of thinking in which there are only right and wrong answers, which doesn't apply in real-world situations” (Sacks). This is, again, a teaching-to-the-test attitude of which evidently isn’t reflective of modern or real-world jobs, which further indicates a lack of effectiveness. In the job world, things aren’t set up to be easily overcome or to be accomplished in a formal, set-in-stone manner. Instead, outside-the-box thinking - intuition and common sense - is a necessity and not just a virtue. To succeed in the real world, your efforts will not end in bubble sheets, true/false questions, nor how well you can stylize a paragraph in MLA format. You’ll be tested really on your abilities to get required jobs in your field done. The application of the skills is more important - more effective, too - than the testing of the possession of said