Beginning in elementary school, students are obligated to take long exams that compare them to their peers and students at other schools across the country. Many students think that standardized tests, like the FCAT, SAT, MCAT, LSAT and GRE, are exhausting and decrease the quality of education. But, others argue, these test provide valuable method of ensuring symmetry in curricula across different schools. Should we seek an alternative way to assess students’ skills, or are standardized exams an essential part of education?
Say yes to standardized tests
by Bernessia Duroseau
Many students hate standardized tests. But they are only here for the betterment of our education and to ensure our success as individuals. They are our friends, not the enemy.
Standardized tests keep students on their toes, because familiarity is a dangerous thing in the classroom. When a student becomes familiar with his or her instructor’s teaching habits and grading system, they tend to slack off and lose interest in the subject matter. But because students poised to take standardized exams don’t always know what will be on the test, they’ll work hard to absorb every bit of information that they receive throughout the semester.
Even though students everywhere are already studying hard for finals at the end of the semester, their focus might not be on the same topics. Standardized tests ensure that students across the country are being taught the same material. As the academic year drags on, students won’t slack off if they know a standardized test is looming over them. They’ll be on top of their game studying and preparing themselves accordingly.
The common saying, “You can lead a horse to water but you can’t make it drink,” applies perfectly to students. Professors can deliver lectures to a class until they’re blue in the face, but their students won’t study on their own time unless they have a clear reason to do so. Even if college students nationwide were all given the same material, standardized tests would still be the only way to ensure that they are all putting in the same amount of work.
Standardized tests separate the hardworking students from those who just get by, or even cheat. In a classroom setting, students often have many opportunities to cheat on tests, and this isn’t fair to the honest students who truly earn their grades. It’s nearly impossible to cheat on the MCAT, DAT, LSAT or any other standardized exam, and if you’re caught, your test is shamefully invalidated. Taking the test honestly is a reward for students who have worked hard all through their academic careers.
Standardized tests are fairer than classroom exams. Teachers are biased when it comes to making and grading tests. Based on a class’s performance on a previous test, the instructor may create an easier test to ensure a higher pass rate. When students are already familiar with a professor from a previous course, the professor may want to challenge them and will write a test that only the cream of the crop might pass. But standardized tests prevent all of this from happening. They give all students the same chance at earning a good score and proving their academic capabilities.
There’s no escaping standardized tests, so it’s best to embrace them now. Standardized tests are like parents; the thought of them may send shivers down your spine at times, but at the end of the day, they only mean well.
Say no to standardized tests
by Gianpaolo Stasi
Dictionary.com definies diversity as “difference; unlikeness; or diversity of opinion.” Through the years, America’s diversity has increased through the acceptance of new people into our nation, and as time passes, languages and customs are shared and glass ceilings are broken, shaking the foundation of what the country’s founding fathers would have considered normal. Our national population is no longer standard. Why, then, is there a form of standardization in a institution as essential as education?
Everyday, more people are surpassing expectations and proving that humans are not a cookie-cutter species. However, no practice contradicts this more than passing out the same test to almost 22 million teenagers age 15 to 19 each year.
In 1983, psychologist Howard Gardner proposed a spectrum of different types of intelligence that would make tests like the SAT, MCAT, LSAT and others completely useless. Gardner said that there are different types of intelligence that are defined by different talents and abilities, and because people are so different, they can’t all be tested in the same way.
Gardner also explained that because each person is so different, they also learn and test differently. For example, musical talent and mathematical abilities are equally valuable but are different skills. No single standardized exam can prove that a student is qualified to move on to the next phase of his or her education.
Take a teen who has lived all his life with a passion for art or music. Math and science were never his strong suits and are also not relevant to his field. Does America expect an artist or skilled musician to be able to burn the quadratic formula into his memory?
It is difficult for a kinesthetic person or a rhythmic person to hash out 60 math questions during the normal duration of a standardized test, while a logical person might struggle to write a creative 500-word essay. In the course of improving education, it seems we have forgotten to factor in diversity as a variable.
As of 2012, American students ranked 17th in science and 14th in reading, compared to students in 26 other industrialized countries. Right after World War II, the U.S. had the highest high school graduation rate in the world, but, today, we have dropped to number 22 among 27 industrialized nations.
Standardized tests have been proven to decrease student achievement instead of increase it. Class time is now being used to tell students how to “beat the test” instead of teaching them critical thinking skills. The monotonous lessons on how to take standardized tests drastically reduces the time that could be used to properly prepare students for college, graduate school and career fields.
Everyone is different and has a unique form of learning; we don’t all become doctors and engineers. At first, standardized tests may seem like a great way to test worldwide knowledge, but when you give the exact same test to millions of individuals, you’re only blurring those many diverse faces into one amorphous blob.
