The Pros And Cons Of Education

Starting around the age of three and continuing until approximately the mid-twenties, an education becomes expected so that students can eventually get a profession. Receiving an education is a great experience, probably one of the most important experiences in a person’s life. However, there are many flaws in the education system. Maybe I’m biased, but in my personal experiences school (especially high school), does not prepare its students for college or the workforce. Education is so focused on standardized testing. Students have stopped caring about their learning, as much as they used to. The fact that home life affects school life needs to be noticed. Diversity should always be addressed. Throughout the course of our education, the preparation

Reich points out that the tests show others (family, the community, other teachers, etc.) that students are learning some material. (Reich, 2001, para. 1). However, not every student will be spending their adult life the same way once they complete school. What they do after depends on what they learn, as well as how they learn, Reich adds. (Reich, 2001, para. 2). However, success in jobs and the economy requires for us to be able to learn on the job, to learn what needs to be known, and to discover and use it quickly. (Reich, 2001, para. 6). Being that jobs today depend on creativity, out-of-the-box thinking, and originality, these are qualities that standardized tests do not measure. (Reich, 2001, para. 7). Reich makes the case that standardized tests can help measure where children are at academically. However, the tests are teaching a generation to become good at taking the tests, and teaching a generation of teachers to become good at teaching the students how to take them. The tests have nothing to do with preparing students for what life will be like after our education ends. (Reich, 2001, para.

Standardized tests such as the ACT only put pressure on students’; they are told to get accepted to a college they need to score at least twenty-five or so. That only stresses students’ out because they want to get into a good college. They study like crazy (even though there’s no real way to study for the ACT), and only to end up in the end with a bad score that only shatters their self-confidence. Yes, standardized tests are supposed to determine where students range academically, but the tests do not prove how far students will go in life. Ideally the standardized tests define our futures; this means nothing if we are trained to take the test and succeed. Also, I do not believe that the tests fully measure the intelligence of students. The standardized tests in my opinion only measure how well students are at taking a standardized test (especially the ACT). The No Child Left Behind Act that was passed in 2001 starts testing children early (in elementary and secondary education) to make sure they are learning the basic skills. I remember taking the ISAT’s in elementary school and getting anxiety because the school perceived it as such an important test. As well as getting the scores back, when I didn’t do so well, I remember feeling like I wasn’t smart enough because that’s the way the school talked about the