The Shortcomings of Standardized Testing in the Education System
Do exams really paint an accurate picture of our progress in a given class and our progress in school overall? Or are exam results better markers of something else, such as our ability to work under pressure or how well we can memorize information? What if someone is very intelligent in their chosen field, but just cracks under the pressure of exams… the pressure that comes with knowing the high stakes of these exams. Did the exam that student just took accurately measure his/her intelligence and knowledge? My answer would be no. There are so many things unrelated to the level of knowledge that affect exam performance. These are things like fatigue, stress, hunger, illness, anxiety, though there are many more.
The longer I am in university, the more I question the reliability of these standardized tests. Why do we continue using exams as our main tool to measure students’ progress? Or at least, why do we value the results to these tests over everything else? Each exam differs in some way, so how do we know which one is optimal? We don’t. Some exams are open book and some are not. Some are multiple choice and some are essay questions. Some are done at home, some at school. Some are curved up, some down according to other students’ scores. This can’t possibly be fair. These are all very different things, very different conditions, but are treated equally. The final grade for PSYC 100 (mostly based on exam marks) will be worth the same amount of my overall GPA as the final mark for PSYC 333 (also mostly based on exam marks), but the exams themselves may be completely different. In reality, all we’re being tested on is how good we are at taking a variety of tests… An applicable quote to this matter is one said by Albert Einstein, “Everybody is a genius. But if you judge a fish by its ability to climb a tree it will live its whole life believing that it is stupid.” By rating a student’s overall level of intelligence (all wrapped up into what we call a ‘GPA’) through the use of standardized tests that don’t measure his/her unique knowledge with very high accuracy, we are treating this student just like the fish in the quote. Just because one is not good at taking tests, does not mean they are unintelligent!
This matter really does deserve more attention… we have youth hurting themselves daily over these exams. Some by taking drugs such as Ritalin or Adderall, when they are unnecessary and not prescribed, in the hopes that they will help them achieve a better grade, and some may even feel so overwhelmed that they are driven to suicidal thoughts. Is that perfect 40/40 or 99% on a piece of paper really worth a life?
