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The No Child Left Behind act brought us with a new way to assess student learning. Each state was to create a standardized test that fit the requirement of the United States Federal Government. The intentions were very good to begin with, but with time the test began to show many faults. Even with these faults, the United States Federal Government did nothing. My argument will be against the testing and why it should be stopped once and for all.
The test, as some claim is a necessary evil. I for one would object. Why should something evil be tolerated, and that too by the Education Department? We must do what is necessary to stop this. Kohn states that,
The more we learn about standardized testing, particularly in its high stakes incarnation, the more likely we are to be appalled. And the more we are appalled, the more inclined we will be to do what is necessary to protect our children from this monster in the schools (Kohn, p1).
The longer we keep the test, the worse the education system will get.
The reason a standardized test was forced upon kids was because it would bring an objective measure of achievement. That would have been a commendable goal if the test didn't prove itself to bring backwardness to actual learning. According to Kohn, "standardized tests do not provide such objectivity" (Kohn, p3). The test should have been stopped then and there when the results came in.
The test as I said before was to bring an objective measure of achievement, but that is not the case. Every individual learns or displays knowledge very differently. For the test to be the same for everyone is preposterous. The test is almost always multiple choice. Some students would be glad that the test is multiple choice, but many others would be upset since it's not a fair measurement of their learning.
"Too much standardization suggests an effort to pretend that evaluations aren't ultimately judgments, that subjectivity can be overcome" (Kohn, p3). Kohn states how the system is biased in its approach to "evaluate" a certain individual. These evaluations in the end become judgments of the learning prowess of an individual which is unfair evaluation. There should be different types of exams if possible.
McNeil states that "standardization undermines academic standards" (McNeil, p6). She is absolutely right. Standardization doesn't just apply to the test, but also the entire academic standard. Instead of teacher using their own curriculum, now they must enforce the curriculum of whatever the standard might be. Because of this many academic standards that once stood tall are now reduced to nothing.
Now we move on to the SAT and ACT. SAT stands for the Scholastics Aptitude Test and is also an another type of standardized test. This test is used by colleges and universities to evaluate an incoming freshman's intellect. This test according to Kohn, is that the only thing this test evaluates is "how big the student's houses are" (Kohn, p4). Only students that are able to afford resources have the ability to do decent on the test. If a student is in poverty, the scores are many times significantly low.
The focus on right answers always worries the students. Be it the SAT or the state standardized tests, the problem is always the same. Doubt has always been the folly of man. We might think we're confident on an answer, but in reality we always have that little doubt that can sometimes make the student change their answers. As a student I always have this doubt and it has been one of the causes of my failure.
Questions
1. Essay is short. What can I do to improve it?
2. Is the organization good? If not, what can I do?
3. Does the essay seem to stay with the thesis statement? If not, what can I do to improve it?
The test, as some claim is a necessary evil. I for one would object. Why should something evil be tolerated, and that too by the Education Department? We must do what is necessary to stop this. Kohn states that,
The more we learn about standardized testing, particularly in its high stakes incarnation, the more likely we are to be appalled. And the more we are appalled, the more inclined we will be to do what is necessary to protect our children from this monster in the schools (Kohn, p1).
The longer we keep the test, the worse the education system will get.
The reason a standardized test was forced upon kids was because it would bring an objective measure of achievement. That would have been a commendable goal if the test didn't prove itself to bring backwardness to actual learning. According to Kohn, "standardized tests do not provide such objectivity" (Kohn, p3). The test should have been stopped then and there when the results came in.
The test as I said before was to bring an objective measure of achievement, but that is not the case. Every individual learns or displays knowledge very differently. For the test to be the same for everyone is preposterous. The test is almost always multiple choice. Some students would be glad that the test is multiple choice, but many others would be upset since it's not a fair measurement of their learning.
"Too much standardization suggests an effort to pretend that evaluations aren't ultimately judgments, that subjectivity can be overcome" (Kohn, p3). Kohn states how the system is biased in its approach to "evaluate" a certain individual. These evaluations in the end become judgments of the learning prowess of an individual which is unfair evaluation. There should be different types of exams if possible.
McNeil states that "standardization undermines academic standards" (McNeil, p6). She is absolutely right. Standardization doesn't just apply to the test, but also the entire academic standard. Instead of teacher using their own curriculum, now they must enforce the curriculum of whatever the standard might be. Because of this many academic standards that once stood tall are now reduced to nothing.
Now we move on to the SAT and ACT. SAT stands for the Scholastics Aptitude Test and is also an another type of standardized test. This test is used by colleges and universities to evaluate an incoming freshman's intellect. This test according to Kohn, is that the only thing this test evaluates is "how big the student's houses are" (Kohn, p4). Only students that are able to afford resources have the ability to do decent on the test. If a student is in poverty, the scores are many times significantly low.
The focus on right answers always worries the students. Be it the SAT or the state standardized tests, the problem is always the same. Doubt has always been the folly of man. We might think we're confident on an answer, but in reality we always have that little doubt that can sometimes make the student change their answers. As a student I always have this doubt and it has been one of the causes of my failure.
Questions
1. Essay is short. What can I do to improve it?
2. Is the organization good? If not, what can I do?
3. Does the essay seem to stay with the thesis statement? If not, what can I do to improve it?
