A test can be defined as a procedure intended to establish the quality, performance, or reliability of something, especially before it is taken into widespread use. As a society, people are tested at every stage in life whether it be a written or a practical exam. Since our first year in an educational institution, we are tested at least once a week for every subject we study. We continue these vital practices of testing all the way through schooling into lifetime careers. Testing is a way for the teacher or other higher position to assess the level of skill and mastery one has over a given material. This task is important to determine if the person is qualified for the next step or a next career. Arguably, the most important careers require …show more content…
exams. Tests are required to ensure the person has the necessary capabilities one needs for the specific field they are interested in. Some of these careers include doctors, lawyers, and engineers. These professions could be called the most important because they are what have a major impact on society each and every day. One career that does not require testing could possibly be the one that should require it the most is politics. Politicians decide how each and every government runs. Therefore, these people manage how we manage the world and the world around us. These vital positions in society should be required to have testing to assess the knowledge and mental capacity of said person. Being a politician, one endures immense feelings of stress, pressure, and anxiety on an everyday basis.
They are mandated to face every day knowing their actions directly affect their constituents and are constantly questioning law after law, accusation after accusation. They work with these ideas knowing with one wrong decision, thousands of lives could be put at risk. This level of power and responsibility eventually effects the person’s decision making. This constant cycle of life altering issue after issue can lose meaning and importance to the person constantly dealing in these matters. Although losing interest may have its benefits, the negatives greatly out way any positives. Politicians do not see the importance of every matter because they deal with too many, therefore they lose sight in the relevance of the people behind each …show more content…
matter. Living in a state of chaos and drama effects a person more than anyone can truly measure. A psychological evaluation is a way to ensure the person has the potential to efficiently deal with the stresses of the political world. Given a sort of psychological test, a doctor can examine how the person responds under the constant tension they will be working with on a day to day basis. Psychological evaluations have been becoming more frequent in the employment industry. For example, police officers are required to pass an evaluation in the very beginning of the application process. A politician works in the world of lawmaking and making sure said laws get enforced, double the responsibility of a police officer, yet politicians are not required said tests. When communities of people elect these politicians, these communities have to only assume these chosen have the mental capabilities needed to fairly make judgements in the government seat in which they were elected. Taking a psychological exam assures the public that one can handle and flourish under such a high level of pressure and stress. Politicians should be mandated to take a written exam expressing their level of knowledge about the areas they will be debating.
Other than campaign questions and strategic campaign strategy, no real tests exist. In order to be an effective participant, one must have factual evidence and advanced insight. Too frequently a politician debates on a particular topic knowing next to nothing about it, meanwhile many lives are riding on the desiscion that comes of this conversation. For example, an Idaho state representative debated on the important bill that would ban doctors from prescribing abortion-inducing medication. This woman asked the doctor on record if it would be feasible for a woman to swallow a camera for the doctors to perform a remote gynecological exam. The doctor, Julie Marsden, responded to the state rep. that that would be impossible seeing swallowed pills do not go anywhere near the area they would need. It is important to note the state representative sits on the board of a crisis pregnancy center. This is just one example of the many explaining politicians lack of knowledge in areas where they are supposed to have the most. It is unjust for every single person who is remotely affected by debates like this because no valid argument was made either in defense or in offense to their argument. Taking a written test ensures all parties that a just debate will be
posed.
This is due to societies unfounded respect for their leaders. Lao-Tzu states, “If you over esteem great men, people become powerless” (206). This is exactly what Americans have done in placing a great deal of emphasis on their government. As a result, they have been stripped of their power to make many decisions for themselves. Instead, a very small percentage of people make the rules and regulations for the entire country. Even though the people elect the officials into office, once they are in office it is up to them to decide what is best for their constituents. As a result, what is optimum for the people is not always chosen, and politicians end up regulating society to death. American politics has become less advocating for the people, and more of a quest for power. Lao-Tzu proclaims, “The ordinary man keeps reaching for power; thus he never has enough” (210). According to John Garvey in his article “The illusion of Control,” “Winning the next election—gaining power or hanging on to it—is all that matters to too many of our elected leaders” (6). Power hungry politicians would not be an issue if people followed the teachings of
However, seldom is this the case with American politics. There are far fewer politicians then there are low class workers or unemployed, and yet these politicians decide upon most all of the important decisions the country is faced with. The only time the rest of the people are involved is when these politicians spew out money and promises in an attempt to gain the p...
The public falls into three main traps about politicians. The first main trap that the public falls into is “The Leader-and-Follower Trap.” The public wants politicians to be leaders, but when they do not lead the way citizens want, they are disliked. Expecting politicians to lead the way they believe the country should go and also follow what citizens want is unfair to them, (Medvic p. 9). Another trap that the public falls into is the “The Principled-and-Pragmatic Trap.” The public wants politicians to stand up for their beliefs, but to also negotiate to solve issues...
To teach to the test or trust the child; is the question in today’s education. Over the past twenty years state curriculum standards have changed. Teachers need to make the choice on how to teach the children in their classroom. In today’s society where testing runs the educational world, a teacher must decide how to prepare students for standardized testing.
Students dread the time of the year when they stop with their course material and begin to prepare for test. Everyone is in agreement that some type of revolution is needed when it comes to education; eliminating standardized test will aid the reform. The need for standardized testing has proven to be ineffective and outdated; some leading educationalist also believe this because the tests do not measure a student’s true potential. This will save money, stop labeling, and alleviate stress in students and teachers.
tests were primarily employed as measures of student achievement that could be reported to parents, and as a means of noting state and district trends (Moon 2) . Teachers paid little attention to these tests, which in turn had little impact on curriculum. However, in the continuing quest for better schools and high achieving students, testing has become a central focus of policy and practice. Standardized tests are tests that attempt to present unbiased material under the same, predetermined conditions and with consistent scoring and interpretation so that students have equal opportunities to give correct answers and receive an accurate assessment. The idea is that these similarities allow the highest degree of certainty in comparing result...
Politics, although a very abhorred profession, is a necessity for society, and requires good leaders who make good political decisions for their constituents. Unfortunately, there is always a negative connotation associated with politicians, as they are usually seen as corrupt, lying, and scheming people. There are many dif...
Lobbying involves more than persuading legislators. Professional lobbyists investigate and examine legislation or dogmatic proposals, are present at congressional hearings, and teach government officials and company officers on imperative issues. Lobbyists in addition work to transform public opinion all the way through advertising campaigns or by control 'opinion leaders'. There are approximately 30,000 recorded lobbyists, other than that does not comprise the public relations experts, marketers, support personnel pollsters, and others who support their work. The majority lobbyists are hard–working professionals who comprehend how to find the way the political process, gain access to lawmakers and main executive–branch officials, and construct a strategy to accomplish their legislative objective. Whether or not you like the renowned place they engage in our system, lobbyists have turn out to be such an essential part of...
In our countries government, Congress plays a major role in decision making. They’re primary role is to pass laws. These laws start off as bills. Bills can only be introduced by members of Congress. Although these bills only come from Congressman, there are many people who influence these bills. Such as the president, regular citizens, offices in the executive branch, and many others. The bills right off the bat do not have a very good chance of passage. Only one out of every ten bills even gets any attention at all. This is because they must go through many tests and hearings before they even have a chance of landing on the president’s desk. These steps in a bill becoming a law are very important, and make sure that all bills passed into law are the best of the best.
nothing but making citizens' voices, opinions, and perspectives “present” in the public policy making processes (11). When political representatives not only speak but also advocate and champion the cause of the people, both symbolize and act on behalf of the vast majority of people in the political arena, political representation then occurs. In essence, political representation refers to kind of political assistance that the political representatives give to the people at large. This seemingly straightforward definition, however, is squarely not sufficient and inadequate because it leaves the concept of political representation underspecified and does not convey the full meaning of the term. The concept of political representation carries
Standardized testing remains to be a major controversial issue for the American society today. Exams are given to students at different levels in their educational career and are supposed to measure their academic knowledge, but are these tests really the best way to evaluate students? There have been numerous alternatives suggested to replace or be used in conjunction with standardized testing.
Standardized testing in the United States is not always a common practice. In the Mid-1800s, Horace Mann, an education reformist, developed a test to administer to a group of students. Its purpose was to determine how students were performing at their current level and whether they were capable of proceeding to a higher level of education, although the student’s success on the test had no negative repercussions. These tests were a necessity at that time because the idea of public education was still being molded and these tests were the only means by which student progress could be measured. Within 35 years of the first recorded examination in 1845, testing became the factor which determined whether students were able to be promoted to the next grade.
In the context of education, testing refers to “a method to determine a student’s ability to complete certain tasks or demonstrate mastery of a skill or knowledge” (Danuri 2012). Assessment is “the process of gathering information to monitor progress and make any decisions necessary” regarding curriculum and teaching (Danuri 2012). Assessment is a process that measures growth over time whereas testing is a form of evaluating what a student knows at...
Stecher, “The net effect of high-stakes testing on policy and practice is uncertain. Researchers have not documented the desirable consequences of testing—providing more instruction, working harder, and working more effectively—as clearly as the undesirable ones—such as negative reallocation, negative alignment of classroom time to emphasize topics covered by a test, excessive coaching, and cheating. More important, researchers have not generally measured the extent or magnitude of the shifts in practice that they identified as a result of high-stakes testing.” Which means that in completion no test is truly valid or reliable for there are too many mistakes to be had by either the test takers or the Test
Politics is the means for attaining valued things. Although, valued things are different in every society, the means of securing those things has never changed. The competition for power, authority and influence will always be the backbone of politics. Applying power, authority and influence to the valued things that support the public good, will produce the quality of life a society desires. In the present day, citizens in the United States demand certain valued things such as welfare, education, safe streets and healthcare. Through politics, citizens can apply their power in many different ways to get the things they want. Power is the ability to get someone to do something they may or may not want to do. Through the use of or the application of coercion, persuasion, manipulation and negotiation, power is used to influence the system.