The Fairness Of Academic Evaluation

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The Fairness of Academic Evaluation

American students used to pass from grade to grade with few complications. Getting into a college was effortless and acquiring degrees was a piece of cake. In 1983, A Nation at Risk was published and Americans realized how inferior their education systems really were. Due to the decline in test scores in American schools, education standards became much stricter and new intelligence exams were introduced. Presently, standardized testing, such as the Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT) and the American College Testing Program (ACT), is a mandatory and important part of the college acceptance process. Although these exams test students on the same topics, genders have proven to be stronger in some fields and weaker in others. Men are typically stronger in mathematical and visual-spatial components, while women are stronger in verbal aspects of the exams. For these reasons, standardized testing is an unfair way of determining one’s intelligence though they are quite fair if combined with grades and activities in the college admissions process.

On the surface, the objective measures of today’s standardized tests sound sensible. In theory, they give every student a solid picture of achievement, and an equal opportunity for advancement. But after years of memorization and drills, what were once intellectually excited and motivated five-year-olds have become bored or grade-obsessed teenagers. Their thrill over accomplishing real tasks and exhibiting real skills is replaced with anxiety over upcoming tests and a concern for high grades. By giving the exams such importance, they are stripping the classrooms of all of the freedom of learning and encouraging the students to focus, not on what they want to learn, but what they have to learn to pass the exams. But isn’t accepting the pitfalls of societal norms a necessary part of growing up?

The transition from secondary school to college is an important step, not only to the person making it, but also to a nation committed to the education of its citizens in a technological world. In fact, the United States has one of the highest rates in the world of secondary students who go into higher education and earn college degrees. Taking assessment tests during high school helps students determine their strengths and weaknesses and choose suitable colleges. ...

... middle of paper ...

...e or religion, the chance to be judged on their performance on one exam. If we had a different test for every gender, race and religion everyone would be attending prestigious schools and our education standards would be low, yet again. Having standardized tests allows us to all receive the same questions and requires us to learn the same things. Isn’t that what tests and education are supposed to be about in the first place?

Amanda Tenedini 5

1) Dietz, Jacquelin. A Longitudinal Study of Engineering Student Performance and

Retention: Gender Differences in Student Performance and Attitudes. Online

Ethics Center. April 1995

<http://www.onlineethics.com/text/ecsel/abstracts/genderdif.html>

2) Johnson, Elizabeth S. College Women’s Performance in a Math-Science Curriculum.

Online Ethics Center. Spring/Summer 1993

<http://www.onlineethics.com/text/ecsel/abstracts/perfmathsci.html>

3) LeBold, William K. 1997. Women in Engineering and Science: An Undergraduate

Research Perspective. In Linda Dix (Ed.), Women: Their Underrepresentation

and Career Differentials in Science and Engineering, Proceedings of a

Workshop. Washington, DC: National Academy Press

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